From the recording Funny Day Saturday

Lyrics

WORKING
You know I'm 49 miles from nowhere.
SLAVIN'
with the smell of muskeg in my hair.
And then we're WEEPIN'
As the big bulldozer sinks into the mud.
You know I'll really be glad
When this is over.
I can go home.

Takin' the oil from the sand and the soil.
You know it needs a strange kind of person.
The mud and the snow
And the sweat and the toil
Would teach any weak man a lesson.

CHORUS
It's forty nine miles to Fort Smith.
Lots of easy women galore.
But go forty nine miles through muskeg?
What the hell, what the hell for?

Repeat CHORUS

Canadian winters are gettin' me down
And I wish I was back in Calgary.
The mud in my boots is a squishing around,
And my hands feel cold and filthy.

You know it ain't the money.
The money keeps comin' in.
I got my money stashed away
In a Libby's Pork and Bean tin.

Repeat CHORUS

Athabasca Tar Sands
Mean frozen face and cold hands
Athabasca Tar Sands
Workin' the oil from the frozen lands
And workin', savin', weepin'
I'll really be glad when this is over
I can go home.

Repeat CHORUS