Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers performed by Stephen Mendel (1)

Isolation Video 32 Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers recorded by Stephen Mendel April 17, 2020

Stan Rogers recorded Northwest Passage for his 1981 album of the same name. It commemorates, celebrates and compares early explorers searches for the fabled (and recently realized) northwest passage to the Orient and Stan's own travels and searches for meaning as he traveled the highways, byways and cities of Canada. In an interview Stan confessed that he didn't quite remember the name Kelsey and guessed that it was Kelso in the recording. Remember this was in 1980-81 and predates our instant access to the internet. I recorded the song alone and then in a collaboration with some dear friends, Rocky Dalonzo, Ron Jenkins and Tim Chambers. I will post it as well.

[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

[Verse 1]
Westward from the Davis Strait
'Tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient
For which so many died
Seeking gold and glory,
Leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones

[Chorus]

Verse 2]
Three centuries thereafter
I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso
Where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me
Then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer
Driving hard across the plain

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
And through the night, behind the wheel
The mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie,
David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts
And did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea

chorus

[Verse 4]
How then am I so different
From the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life
I threw it all away
To seek a Northwest Passage
At the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again

Chorus

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