Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
Driving Saw Logs on the Plover 
Driving Saw Logs on the Plover 
There walked on Plover's shady banks One evening last July A mother of a shanty boy And doleful was her cry Saying, "God be with you, Johnny Although you're far away Driving saw logs on the Plover And you'll never get your pay 
"Oh Johnny, I gave you schooling I gave you a trade likewise You need not been a shanty boy Had you taken my advice You need not gone from your dear home To the forest far away Driving saw logs on the Plover And you'll never get your pay "Come all young men take warning And listen to what I say Driving saw logs on the Plover And you'll never get your pay 
"Oh Johnny, you were your father's hope Your mother's only joy Why is it that you ramble so My own, my darling boy? Oh what could induce you, Johnny From your own dear home to stray Driving saw logs on the Plover And you'll never get your pay 
"Why didn't you stay upon the farm And feed the ducks and hens And drive the pigs and sheep each night And put them in their pens For better for you to help your dad To cut his corn and hay Than drive saw logs on the Plover And you'll never get your pay 
"Come all young men take warning 
And listen to what I say Driving saw logs on the Plover And you'll never get your pay" 
A log canoe came floating A down the quiet stream As peacefully it glided As in some young lover's dream A youth stepped out upon the bank And thus to her did say "Dear mother, I have jumped the game And I haven't got my pay" 
recorded by Helen Schneyer on Folk Legacy's The Continuing Tradition SOF