For some strange reason I find myself humming and singing this song after about a week into a trip. And I really don't have a clue as to why........I never even think about this tune unless I am on a trip and then it just sort of shows up.

How bout you? Got a song which just sort of shows up?


Blue Skies

I never hummed or sang out loud. But in my head there was often a tune, and on portages there was always a hymn. Which hymn depended upon the cadence of my steps partly, or sometimes upon the length/difficulty of the portage.

Some of my portage hymns:

The First Song of Isaiah
The First Song of Isaiah (I sing it faster than this version)

Christ Is the King, O Friends Rejoice (Lutheran version, hymn tune Beverly)

On Eagle's Wings

There were others, but these were my go-to favorites.

Here's one off my Quetico playlist for the trip up north... in case the weather does not cooperate!

Stormy Weather

I'm not allowed to post or link mine in an open forum.

butthead

I love this video's opening song but I don't speak French.
C'est l'aviron

Spartan2: "I never hummed or sang out loud. But in my head there was often a tune, and on portages there was always a hymn. Which hymn depended upon the cadence of my steps partly, or sometimes upon the length/difficulty of the portage.


Some of my portage hymns:

The First Song of Isaiah
The First Song of Isaiah

Christ Is the King, O Friends Rejoice (Lutheran version, hymn tune Beverly)

On Eagle's Wings

There were others, but these were my go-to favorites.


"

so if I am going down a portage and hearing someone bellowing that hymn at the top of his or her lungs....I might have a clue who it is.
:-)

dr bob

DrBobDg: "

Spartan2: "I never hummed or sang out loud. But in my head there was often a tune, and on portages there was always a hymn. Which hymn depended upon the cadence of my steps partly, or sometimes upon the length/difficulty of the portage.



Some of my portage hymns:


The First Song of Isaiah
The First Song of Isaiah


Christ Is the King, O Friends Rejoice (Lutheran version, hymn tune Beverly)


On Eagle's Wings


There were others, but these were my go-to favorites.



"

so if I am going down a portage and hearing someone bellowing that hymn at the top of his or her lungs....I might have a clue who it is.
:-)

dr bob"

You didn't read carefully, dr bob. I never hummed or sang out loud, only within myself. My trips to the BWCA/Q were always to enjoy the silence, and I never would presume to let someone hear me singing! :-) Not because I cannot sing, as I earned a good living for years teaching people to sing. Only because I believe that the canoe country is better appreciated with just the music of the birds.

But since I stopped canoe-tripping in 2013, I think it is a moot point now, anyway. So if you hear someone "bellowing that hymn at the top of his or her lungs" it most assuredly ISN'T me!

It changes. I always have a song playing in my head; probably to deal with some pretty serious tinnitus. Same with my oldest daughter; we have a game we play where we ask each other, "So, what are you listening to?"

Right now I have a Ry Cooder version of Little Sister playing...

Back in the '80's I started listening to "A Prairie Home Companion" most Saturday nights on a local Public radio station. I loved it. Every Spring Garrison Keillor would do this little song that went "One more spring...in Minn..a..sootaaaa, to come, upon, Lake Wo-be-gone......." I LOVED that song. When I'm up in the BWCAW paddling in the sunshine that song sometimes plays in my head and I guarantee I'll be humming it and sometimes singing it just loud enough for me to hear.

While not a song, a few years ago I spent the whole trip talking like Dr. Evil from Austen Powers.

Dr Evil

Against the wind...

When I first started going solo I had watched Chris Hadfield cover A Space Oddity from the international space station. It stuck in my brain...especially the chorus. For 4 days, sitting in my aluminum canoe, I couldn't get it out of my brain.

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

But truth be told, I can't sing a note so I usually go with a few different versions of Tuvan Throat Singing

airmorse: "While not a song, a few years ago I spent the whole trip talking like Dr. Evil from Austen Powers.


Dr Evil "

Awesome! I love the Evil man!!

Frenchy19: "

airmorse: "While not a song, a few years ago I spent the whole trip talking like Dr. Evil from Austen Powers.



Dr Evil "

Awesome! I love the Evil man!!"

Thank you number one.

Instead of 'Jukebox Hero' , my son would sing 'Juice box Hero!'

On portages I sing Big Iron by Marty Robbins.

old_salt: "Against the wind..."

Ha good one!

I am usually solo as of late so the occasional few lines after the sun comes out after a storm is A-OK. "Blue skies, nothing but blue skies........"

I usually catch myself humming the same songs my dad has ever since I remember him doing so.

"Oh Lord its hard to be humble" comes to mind first.

I'm a recent fan of Woodsmoke & Oranges by Ian Tamblyn.

"In the land of the silver birch, cry of the loon,
There's something about this country that's a part of me and you."

My song has forever been Blue Sky ironically, but it's a different one, by the Allman Brothers.

The Fishing Song

It's the dreaded earworm.

Only the song of the white-throated sparrow.

plexmidwest: "My song has forever been Blue Sky ironically, but it's a different one, by the Allman Brothers. "

On those nasty rainy days in the bdub this Allman Brothers song comes to mind.

Let your soul shine, it’s better than sunshine, it’s better than moonshine, damn sure better than rain.

Cigaro by System of a Down

HighnDry: "It's the dreaded earworm. "

Know that one well...

I dunno. If I get tired on a portage, maybe I'll pull up "Gimme three steps" by Skynyrd

rtallent: "I dunno. If I get tired on a portage, maybe I'll pull up "Gimme three steps" by Skynyrd"

I try to be aware of what I'm listening to on the radio whenever I'm heading up north!

If you hear a family of 5 singing "Can You Canoe" by the Okee Dokee brother in the middle of the BWCA that would be us.

Canoearoo: "If you hear a family of 5 singing "Can You Canoe" by the Okee Dokee brother in the middle of the BWCA that would be us."

Heheheh, If I'm nearby, I'll join in (LOL)!
I love this one too I just can't remember the words (LOL); if I'd only learned it when my brain was young and fresh!
True and Deep

bmaines: "Cigaro by System of a Down"

Hahahahaha... the whole Mesmerize album was my anthem when I alpine ski raced back in high school. The thought of someone humming that on a portage is just cracking me up.

For me it's something I was into on the drive to the park. I was on a Bryds jag last year. Older Bob Dylan the year before. I played the same best of REM cassette I had made on every trip in the 80s and 90s. It became tradition until I didn't have a cassette player anymore. The song Harborcoat is one I hummed a lot.

Some little ditty my dad made up when we were paddling as kids in the BWCA back in the 70's. I don't remember all the words but I still have the tune and the phrase ....voyageurs we are, we travel very far.....lol

Probably a tie between How Great Thou Art and Whispers of the North by Gordon Lightfoot.

MN_Lindsey: "I'm a recent fan of Woodsmoke & Oranges by Ian Tamblyn.


"In the land of the silver birch, cry of the loon,
There's something about this country that's a part of me and you.""

Yes!!!

dicecupmaker: "Instead of 'Jukebox Hero' , my son would sing 'Juice box Hero!'"

That is a great one!!

What no one else hums dueling banjo's?

Spartan2: "

DrBobDg: "

Spartan2: "I never hummed or sang out loud. But in my head there was often a tune, and on portages there was always a hymn. Which hymn depended upon the cadence of my steps partly, or sometimes upon the length/difficulty of the portage.



Some of my portage hymns:



The First Song of Isaiah
The First Song of Isaiah



Christ Is the King, O Friends Rejoice (Lutheran version, hymn tune Beverly)



On Eagle's Wings



There were others, but these were my go-to favorites.



"

so if I am going down a portage and hearing someone bellowing that hymn at the top of his or her lungs....I might have a clue who it is.
:-)


dr bob"

You didn't read carefully, dr bob. I never hummed or sang out loud, only within myself. My trips to the BWCA/Q were always to enjoy the silence, and I never would presume to let someone hear me singing! :-) Not because I cannot sing, as I earned a good living for years teaching people to sing. Only because I believe that the canoe country is better appreciated with just the music of the birds.


But since I stopped canoe-tripping in 2013, I think it is a moot point now, anyway. So if you hear someone "bellowing that hymn at the top of his or her lungs" it most assuredly ISN'T me! "

now I'm sad... I can hope that I would get to meet you. From some of your posts your portages in life have been hard at time.
I heard these guys last weekend... pretty awesome time

Cloveton.... Hallelugah


dr bob

bmaines: "Cigaro by System of a Down"

Haha...that is hysterical & yet so timely...good one

2 tickets to paradise

I'm gonna take you on a trip so far from here,
I've got two tickets in my pocket, now baby, we're gonna disappear
We've waited so long, waited so long
We've waited so long, waited so long

Ode to Joy

"now I'm sad... I can hope that I would get to meet you. From some of your posts your portages in life have been hard at time.
I heard these guys last weekend... pretty awesome time

Cloveton.... Hallelugah


dr bob"

I am touched by your post, dr. bob. It would be an honor to meet you as well. I usually do not click on links in these threads, but I did click on yours, and I am very glad that I did. A most interesting performance!

Don’t have a specific “anthem”, but one song always makes an appearance (and it’s now in my head). First BWCA trip was me and my two brothers. Youngest brother was 19 at the time, and our second night we scored a great island campsight. Hadn’t been on the island for five minutes and the youngest brother asked nervously about bears on the island, so we started singing “Island Bear” to the tune of Island Girl by Elton John. Of course we found out later that bears will actually swim over to the islands and he was right....

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...especially if I'm heading out of the east side along the big lake called Gitchigumi! Turn it up!!

All by Myself
or
Alone Again, Naturally

Abbey: Hadn’t been on the island for five minutes and the youngest brother asked nervously about bears on the island, so we started singing “Island Bear” to the tune of Island Girl by Elton John. "

Ha! Too funny ;-)

: "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...especially if I'm heading out of the east side along the big lake called Gitchigumi! Turn it up!!


"

Love that artist and love that song but it always brings tears to my eyes. Not so sure I want to be blubbering along.........Think i will stick with Blue Skies.

This is the ultimate canoe tripping song hands down, maybe I will replace Blue Skies ;-)



Feeling Good

No songs for me, but after about a week in the woods alone I do find myself calling out looking for Wilson.

When paddling against the wind it is the theme song from Hawaii Five O. On the portages it is Take The Long Way Home by Supertramp.

At some point during every trip, the BlackHawk song "King of the World" pops into my head for awhile.

I have this habit of drudging up old songs while I am out canoeing solo. It has gotten to the point that when i get back from trips by buddies ask me what the song theme was this time around.

The most memorable one was the pointer sisters and Neutron Dance

Not into solo trips anymore, but I used to say this one in my head when solo portaging. From my fav movie Cool Hand Luke:

Through these days
Of toil that’s near
If I fall
Dear Lord who cares
Who but thee
My burden shares
None but thee, dear Lord
None but thee

I have a had a CD stuck in my truck player since about 2009. It is ACDC Black Ice. Not good. The only time I have listened to it since then is when heading in to a put in up in BW and I crank the song War Machine all the way so my speakers are so past handling it, it is all distorted and gnarly. Don’t want that in my head for too long, just want the noise.

Dan Hicks, "Payday Blues".

Break on Through to the Other Side - The Doors

Great thread. Last year my young girls kept singing "I just came here for the cake"...and now it's a running joke about how much we all hate it.

When weather is bad, or we have our noses in a hard wind, we always sing to pass the time and keep our spirits up. This is one of my favorites from times leading scout trips, helps keep a good cadence while paddling:
Land of the Silver Birch

I've also been known to bust out some Bob Dylan:
Girl from the North Country

This has been on my mind for the past month. Perfect song for leaving society behind for a week.

Eddie Vedder - Society
https://youtu.be/ixqP7IPj330

I bellow "The Land of Sky Blue Waters" on portages with rushing water, sometimes I even think of a cold beer while singing Hamms

Blood upon the risers. Although since the kid started coming, I only hum, not sing outloud

A lot of Trampled By Turtles songs. Usually Midnight on the Interstate or Victory.

Every once in a while, the Gilligan's Island theme song comes up...

I don't usually get one stuck in mind in there, but I have a long drive up and back. I start out with Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, etc. transitioning towards Dylan and jerry Vandiver as I get close. I come out of the BW to Vandiver, Yo-Yo Ma, Derek Trucks . . .

GearJunkie: "This has been on my mind for the past month. Perfect song for leaving society behind for a week.


Eddie Vedder - Society
https://youtu.be/ixqP7IPj330"

Glad you reminded me of that song, the whole movie is fantastic, my favorite adventure flick; I could watch it 100 times (maybe I have?). I need to get the soundtrack and play on the way up next trip.

: "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...especially if I'm heading out of the east side along the big lake called Gitchigumi! Turn it up!!


"

First time I ever took Ester Lake Portage from Ottertrack I sang that song while carrying the aluminum canoe. Made it a little easier!

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald; usually starts right after we crest the hill entering Duluth.

I have 4:
When we take off It's, On The Road Again
When I wait up in the morning it's Blue Skies Shining at Me.
When we are fishing it's Trolling, Trolling, Trolling, Walleye
When sitting around the campfire it's Smoke gets in your eyes.

plexmidwest: "

GearJunkie: "This has been on my mind for the past month. Perfect song for leaving society behind for a week.



Eddie Vedder - Society
https://youtu.be/ixqP7IPj330"

Glad you reminded me of that song, the whole movie is fantastic, my favorite adventure flick; I could watch it 100 times (maybe I have?). I need to get the soundtrack and play on the way up next trip."

Same here. It’s on Netflix finally.

The entire sound track is on YouTube in a play list from the users link I posted.

The Happy Wanderer. It was the song we sang at 8th grade graduation and it has been stuck in my head in the 58 years that followed.

Billy Ocean... when the going gets tough the tuff get going...

Portaging: The Happy Wanderer
Paddling with the sun reflecting off the water: Hamm's beer commercial
Spotting a log in the water: Ren & Stimpy Log song
And many more, depending on what triggers the songs in my brain!

Let's see... Thunder island by Jay Ferguson , stroke me, stroke me (the stroke) Billy Squire, Crystal Ball by Styx- my traveling song, Sunshine on my Shoulders -John Denver, I will think of more. Unlike Spartan2 I sing a lot. Not that don't care about others, I just like singing. I can carry a tune anyway. I am sure I have sung Against the Wind a couple hundred times.

pswith5: Unlike Spartan2 I sing a lot. Not that don't care about others, I just like singing. I can carry a tune anyway. "

Must be nice to have talent. I'm only a bit vocal when I'm solo and then its not for very long.........maybe a few lines here and there. Mostly I just like it quiet.......you certainly see more game being quiet. I paddle quietly, portage quietly and sing quietly. Now if I really get into a hot bite however, then I have to remind myself that I might be disturbing others "Oh yea baby, come to poppa!!"

mastertangler: "For some strange reason I find myself humming and singing this song after about a week into a trip. And I really don't have a clue as to why........I never even think about this tune unless I am on a trip and then it just sort of shows up.

How bout you? Got a song which just sort of shows up?



Blue Skies "

"here comes the sun" by the Beatles
the wife and I sing when it finally stops raining for a bit

cripple creek by the band
black water by the doobie brothers
also:
livin' on a prayer by Bon Jovi , because we are always halfway there

Cripple Creek by The Band is an excellent choice. :)

Not a song just one line out of a song and modified a bit to match the situation. When several hours into a bushwhack and suddenly I find that the lake that was just over the hill is not there. The words “Mother tell your children not to do what I have done”. Over and over and over again.

I always find that when I'm starting to run out of gas on a portage a good 'ole Irish drinking song puts a little "wind back in me sails". Anything by The Pogues, Great Big Sea or the like...

"If I should fall from grace with God where no doctor can relieve me.
If I'm buried neath the sod and the angels won't receive me.
Let me go boys, go boys.
Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry!"

"If I Should Fall From Grace With God" - The Pogues

That's awesome. Like that.
Having weathered some rough seas the past few years, I am desperately hoping the pendulum will start swinging upward again. I keep telling myself, the worm will turn baby, the worm will turn. It frickin has to. Last weekend I helped a girl move. I didn't really know her, she is a waitress at a restaurant I frequented while going through chemo. I introduced myself because she was the one waitress I never really talked to. She told me her name was Jen and she was stressed out because she had to move in a couple days. I immediately offered to help her because that is one of my favorite things to do, help people move, if for no other reason than other people hate to do it. I know, I'm weird. Well, she had tons of stuff, it was quite the adventure. There was no way she could have got it done without my assistance. It was a lot of fun and I made some new friends, Jen and her daughters. It was pretty righteous. It was a heck of a way to get to know someone, but I am glad I did. After hearing her story it made me realize what a wuss I have been crying about my own situation. Jen is my new hero. She texted me yesterday morning to say thanks and she was off to work to begin a fresh new start. I said I am off to a fresh new start myself, I just started a new job and who knows, maybe Jen will want to hang out sometime and we can have some fun together. If I don't screw it up. So anyway, these words just came to my head so I wrote them down. This is my new 'mantra'. I like it because it is easy to remember. She thought it was pretty cool. I think it will come in handy on a rough portage or lake crossing. Cheers.

A Fresh New Start

Break The Cycle
Get Back on the Horse
Disciplined and Determined
To Stay on Course
Mentally tough
And Hard to the Core
Eyes on the Prize
There is so MUCH MORE

Ride of the Valkyries.

Natch.

When I trip with one of my brothers, we usually have a song that sticks with us the entire trip. It changes each trip. And we belt these songs out to the point it makes us break out in laughter. The last one I remember was Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman.

Last trip was in 2016. Right before that I got into Merle Haggard. I have a concert of his saved on my TV. The guy is a heck of a songwriter, his early stuff. I was singing a couple I remembered. One first verse being:

I was born the runnin kind
Leavin always on my mind
Home was never home to me
At any time
Every front door had me hopin
I would find the back door open
There just had to be an exit
For the runnin kind

That’s some good smoke man. Love that stuff.

I’m kind of having fun with this. I’ll shut up soon. I have always been a singer. Guys in college used to give me a hard time cuz I always singing something. Sometimes on the job too. I can write a pretty darn good song too. I just don’t want to go commercial. You know money and all that material stuff might just ruin my creativity. Can’t have that. No sir. Anyway, I mentioned earlier that I helped a family move a Noah’s Ark boatload of stuff last weekend. After an epic struggle, one of the last things they had was their artificial Christmas tree. What do you do when find a Christmas tree on the first day of a long, long wait for eighty degree temps, coupled with the emotion of being so close to satisfaction after a Himalayan sized mountain of effort and struggle. That’s right, you guessed it, you sing Christmas songs. Or I should say I did. Gotta cover the classics...

Have yourself
A merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
(And I don’t mean homosexual...)

Chet’s nuts roasting
On an open fire
Jack Frost
Nipping at your stones

Sleigh bells ring
Are ya listenin
My Yule log
It’s a glistenin...


Ok, I think you get the picture. I’m done over and out.
Cheers, scat

For my wife it is either the "Ants go marching" song or the Orchestra song. With either one, she can measure progress along a portage with pretty good accuracy.

GearJunkie: "This has been on my mind for the past month. Perfect song for leaving society behind for a week.


Eddie Vedder - Society
https://youtu.be/ixqP7IPj330"

I love that whole album. But for me it's a little depressing because I relate the songs to the story of Into The Wild. But thanks for this reminder, I just might listen to it on the Drive up. And then most likely it will become an earworm and I will have it in my head for the whole trip. That's how it works for me. :)

Eddie Vedder solo Society

Tom, I agree there's something eerily depressing about that song & soundtrack as well, because of the hardships and ending of the movie. But for some reason I just can't get enough of it.

TomT: "

GearJunkie: "This has been on my mind for the past month. Perfect song for leaving society behind for a week.



Eddie Vedder - Society
https://youtu.be/ixqP7IPj330"

I love that whole album. But for me it's a little depressing because I relate the songs to the story of Into The Wild. But thanks for this reminder, I just might listen to it on the Drive up. And then most likely it will become an earworm and I will have it in my head for the whole trip. That's how it works for me. :)


Eddie Vedder solo Society


"

That song (and the entire soundtrack) is great. Eddie Vedder is one of my favorites.

mc2mens: "When I trip with one of my brothers, we usually have a song that sticks with us the entire trip. It changes each trip. And we belt these songs out to the point it makes us break out in laughter. The last one I remember was Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman. "

That's a good one......it's on one of my play lists.

Who said; here comes the sun? I had forgotten that one. Then there is "blue skies" Willy Nelson version.

No one likes my paddling anthem? Okay, how about if I add the lyrics, "Kill da wabbit!"

Works for me. If it is one of those creepy hares in BW. Those things are evil.

Way off topic, but what is evil about the BWCA hares? I have always enjoyed them at our campsites. Our "bunny party" on Pine Lake is a fond memory. :-)

Maybe it was just the ones on Gull Lake. They just sat there sideways on the fringes of our campsite staring at us with that one big evil eye. These were large. I wouldn’t call them cute lil bunnies. Creepy. Ever see the movie Night of the Lepus, where the rabbits got singed by radiation or something and got huge and reigned terror and mayhem upon mankind? Yeah, that kind of creepy. Maybe I took that one a little too seriously when I was a kid...

I'm just joshin', riffin' off an old Bugs' cartoon, which riffed off Wagner.

Kill da wabbit!

We had one of those hares at our site on Maraboeuf the end of May last year. Thing was really big, and not one bit afraid of us. Lucky for him, the fish were biting and he was spared. We saw plenty of wolf scat on the portages and I'm guessing they are an easy meal to catch for a wolf.

Yay wolf!!!

Without hesitation it's 'Big Rock Candy Mountain' from Harrry McLintock. I whistle it constantly up there. 'There's a lake of stew and whiskey too and you paddle all around it in a big canoe...'. It's my wandering song.

Now that I can relate to. Gonna google that.

Love it. I can definitely see how that melody could get stuck in your head. Now I gotta learn the words. Nice call. Thanks!

scat: "Maybe it was just the ones on Gull Lake. They just sat there sideways on the fringes of our campsite staring at us with that one big evil eye. These were large. I wouldn’t call them cute lil bunnies. Creepy. Ever see the movie Night of the Lepus, where the rabbits got singed by radiation or something and got huge and reigned terror upon mankind? Yeah, that kind of creepy. Maybe I took that one a little too seriously when I was a kid..."

Ours were huge, too. There were about 6 or 7 of them, although Spartan1 would roll his eyes and say I am exaggerating. It was hard to count, as they kept coming and going, appearing at first one side of the campsite, and then another, and then by the tent, then by the grate, then on the biffy trail. I must have a dozen good photos. It was late afternoon/early evening and they were our after-dinner "entertainment". I was delighted with the "show". I never saw your movie, so it didn't occur to me to be creeped out. I was just glad that they weren't bears. LOL!

missmolly: "I'm just joshin', riffin' off an old Bugs' cartoon, which riffed off Wagner.


Kill da wabbit! "

Ah, that explains it!! I was really wondering if you were actually going along wilderness trails singing Wagner, which parts you were singing, and in what language! It was sort of fun to imagine, actually. But I am not familiar with the cartoon, so now it makes more sense. Thanks.

Hub: "Without hesitation it's 'Big Rock Candy Mountain' from Harrry McLintock. I whistle it constantly up there. 'There's a lake of stew and whiskey too and you paddle all around it in a big canoe...'. It's my wandering song."

There must be a lot of different words to "Big Rock Candy Mountain", as there are to most folk songs. I always taught a version of that song to my 3rd grade music classes, but it didn't have any lakes of stew and whiskey in it. ;-)

It is a very catchy tune. As is "The Ants Go Marching" (that is in the first grade music book in most curricula) but I wouldn't have thought of either as portage anthems. That type of songs are such earworms for music teachers that we usually retire THEM when we retire. LOL!

Spartan2: "

missmolly: "I'm just joshin', riffin' off an old Bugs' cartoon, which riffed off Wagner.



Kill da wabbit! "

Ah, that explains it!! I was really wondering if you were actually going along wilderness trails singing Wagner, which parts you were singing, and in what language! It was sort of fun to imagine, actually. But I am not familiar with the cartoon, so now it makes more sense. Thanks."

You betcha!

On my first trip two years ago, my two buddies - who had not previously met - quickly discovered that they shared an affinity for the music of Al Green. So they sang every Al Green song they knew in passable two-part harmony - the entire trip. In addition, they both knew the lyrics to an impressive catalog of 80s sitcom theme songs. It was entertaining for the first couple days. By day three, I was debating who to bludgeon first.

Now that is funny. Well played.
Last detour down the bunny trail. I was thinking about this on the way home. I’m sure now that my aversion to the evil hares does indeed stem from that movie Night of the Lepus. I think they looked the same. Sideways with big eyes, silent, no discernible sound made, but that evil bunny will stomp your house down and crush your skull in your bed with seemingly no effort, no emotion, no real change in facial expression. That’s just evil. Do I want one of those devil bunnies lurking just outside my campsite? Not if I can avoid it. I’m in a freakin tent! His paws might be six feet long! With sharp skinny weird pointy teeth. Probly has bad breath too. Yuk. Keep those horrendous hares away from me. In a final self analysis, it might be that if an animal is going to kill me, I’d rather be finished off honestly, like by a rattlesnake or mauled by a bear. Stomped in my tent by an evil bunny who doesn’t even care to look at me with both eyes. Creepy.

scat: "I’m kind of having fun with this. I’ll shut up soon. I have always been a singer. Guys in college used to give me a hard time cuz I always singing something. Sometimes on the job too. I can write a pretty darn good song too. I just don’t want to go commercial. You know money and all that material stuff might just ruin my creativity. Can’t have that. No sir. Anyway, I mentioned earlier that I helped a family move a Noah’s Ark boatload of stuff last weekend. After an epic struggle, one of the last things they had was their artificial Christmas tree. What do you do when find a Christmas tree on the first day of a long, long wait for eighty degree temps, coupled with the emotion of being so close to satisfaction after a Himalayan sized mountain of effort and struggle. That’s right, you guessed it, you sing Christmas songs. Or I should say I did. Gotta cover the classics...


Have yourself
A merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
(And I don’t mean homosexual...)

Chet’s nuts roasting
On an open fire
Jack Frost
Nipping at your stones

Sleigh bells ring
Are ya listenin
My Yule log
It’s a glistenin...



Ok, I think you get the picture. I’m done over and out.
Cheers, scat"

Scat - try this:

Hot dogs roasting on an open fire
Skeeters nipping at your nose
Stupid ditties being sung by the fire
And folks bug sprayed from head to toe
Everybody knows some skinny dipping in the lake
Will help to make the evening bright
Northern lights make the sky all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight
Cuz we know that wind is on its way
Bringing lots of storms and rain to last all day
And every mothers' child is gonna cry
Cuz the portages are gonna make you die
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
For kids from one to ninety two
I know its been said many times many ways
Happy Summer to You!

-SJ

In 2016 me and my partner base camped on a sandy site on Malberg Lake. That’s cool till it gets wet. Hence you get thoughts like this rattling around in your skull, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my world:

Wet sand in my buttcrack
And I don’t give a damn
I’m gonna stay out here
As long as I can

I know there was a second verse. Can’t remember it right now, but I’m sure it rhymed.

butthead: "I'm not allowed to post or link mine in an open forum.


butthead"

Ha! Now I really want to know Ken!

This Tune Alway goes over and over in my head as I’m paddling in the BWCA. Not sure why

Not my go-to anthem per se, but this song sums up the feeling of heading north on Highway 53 pretty well...

Freedom Song Blackberry Smoke

I'm also one of those guys who loves to put on "Wreck of the E-F" on the downhill approach to Superior, WI. It just always seems like the right thing to do.

old_salt: "Against the wind..."

haha yup, we do that one as well, and also besides the other ones mentioned:
running on empty- jackson browne

thats a good one for the last lag of a long day
lol
but it sucks, if in conjunction with "against the wind"
ugh.
lol!

I’m so screwed. This was inspired by the Bob Dylan song I went out one morning, it sounds like it, and the rhythm is catchy, but mostly by a girl named Jenn who I recently met. Now I can’t get it out of my head. And a trip in 3 weeks!

I met a lady with a ponytail
She took me briefly in her arms
She welcomed me into her house
And showed me certain charms
When I tried to follow
My bearings came to fail
I fell into a righteous path
I knew she would do me no harm

I had a revelation
With my feet stuck in the sand
I may never have her heart
Until she first gives me her hand
I tried to find a solution
But my bearings came to fail
I fell into my righteous path
In a familiar foreign land


Cheers, scat

Kenny Rogers' The Gambler.. Especially when it gets gnarly

Freedom Song, Blackberry Smoke

A day or two before my last trip I heard Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and it got stuck in my head to be the very unwelcome theme for the whole 4-day trip. Over and over I kept hearing in my head when Michael shouts "YEE-HAH!" GAHHHHHHHH!!!

Our group's song is definitely "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" by Dwight Yoakam.

A close runner is up is "Tulsa Time" by Don Williams. Some classic country just fits right.

bdeck37: "Our group's song is definitely "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" by Dwight Yoakam.


A close runner is up is "Tulsa Time" by Don Williams. Some classic country just fits right. "

Yeah, now that's some good stuff!!

Jackfish: "Only the song of the white-throated sparrow."

The best song herd in the northwoods.

Jackfish: "Only the song of the white-throated sparrow."

thats the authentic up North anthem.

Personally I find human noise in the wilderness appalling.

The Far Northland

It's the far northland that's a callin' me away,
as take I with my packsack to the road.
It's the call on me of the forest in the north,
as step I with the sunlight for my load.

Chorus
From Lake Agnes, by Louisa, to Kawnipi I will go,
Where you see the loon and hear his plaintive wail,
If you're think'n in your inner heart there's a swagger in my step,
Then you'll know I've been along the border trail.


It's the flash of paddle blades a gleamin' in the sun,
a canoe softly skimming by the shore,
It's the smell of pine and bracken comin' on the breeze
that calls me to the waterways once more.

Chorus


**************************
Sung at the beginning of this video
By Pack and Paddle

BCA: "Personally I find human noise in the wilderness appalling. "

I only farted that one time!!!

BCA: "Personally I find human noise in the wilderness appalling. "

Hmmm, so you make zero noise yourself?

"Fishin" by Elvin Bishop

Try it you'll like it

I don't want a pickle, just wanna ride my motorsickle. Arlo Guthrie

At my first camp, on my first solo, I listened to Take Five by Brubeck, while eating a pot of my wife’s homemade vegetable soup and all was right in my little world. Take Five is my anthem.
Take Five

crumpman: "At my first camp, on my first solo, I listened to Take Five by Brubeck, while eating a pot of my wife’s homemade vegetable soup and all was right in my little world. Take Five is my anthem.
Take Five "

I understand. That is an amazing song.