Well it’s still the old old story 
Of those voyageurs and men
Who took a chance on glory
Now we call them Canadian

Paddle stroke and glide boys
Canoe begins to slide
Out across the blue St. Lawrence
River long and wide 

Up the Great Lake waters
Wind and rain and snow
Past the haunts of habitants
Long years ago

They headed for the northland
And they opened up this land
Some settled down on hallowed ground 
That’s how it all began

A windy hymn through twisted pine
A Voyageur sings out in time
And native sons who helped define
This land

Through the great tall timbered forest
Where the mighty raging rivers roil
They came to claim and stayed to tame 
The precious virgin soil

It’s who they were
Not why they’d come
That opened up this land
Those voyageurs and native sons
In bold exuberance
The men who took a chance upon
This land

Now the Iroquois, the Chippewa
The Huron and the Cree
Shared their woods in brotherhood
I wonder where, without them, we would be

In the deep wood spruce tree forest 
Find the couriers des bois
Who ran the trails and spun tall tales
Once or twice or trois

A windy hymn through twisted pine
A Voyageur sings out in time
And native sons who helped define
This land

Lift those paddles high boys
Drive ‘em down and draw
Portage round or run aground
Along the Ottawa 

Down the rivelin’ stream, now
Rollick in the flow
Batten down the cargo boys
And let ‘er go

Cause the men who chased the otter
Faced the water and the wild
That sweet allure of beaver fur 
It had the men beguiled

It’s who they were
Not why they’d come
That opened up this land
Those voyageurs and native sons
In bold exuberance
The men who took a chance upon
This land

The Assiniboine rose to join
Ojibway and Metis
And came to ask “Oh Canada -
I wonder what your future holds for me?”

Now they’re gone and on we travel
Over trails that went before
We still hear them on the woodland forest breeze

A windy hymn through twisted pine
A Voyageur sings out in time
And native sons who helped define
This land

Early morning sunrise
Linger long then go
Northern nation, slowly rising
In the misty glow, ya know

It’s still the old old story 
Of those voyageurs and men
Who took a chance on glory
Now we call them Canadian