Talking Maple Syrup Blues by Willie-O
(There ain't no tune, you just play it.)


Willie-O's Comments:  I remember back a few years ago when the price of maple syrup was just getting up to about twenty bucks a gallon, my neighbour in the city said to me:  "Can you believe the price of that stuff!  After all, it just comes out of trees, right?"  I wrote this song, or talking blues, or whatever it is, to set the record straight.

Just about five weeks ago we went out to the bush
And started drillin' holes in the sugar maple trees
When the tractor got stuck well we just got off and pushed
Till the damn thing blew a gasket

We all took some time off our regular jobs
Found a tractor that wasn't all done
Got the trails and the spikes and the buckets set out
Then we waited for the sap to run (and waited...and waited...and waited...)

Two weeks passed and we all went back to work
It looked like we'd get bugger-all.
Nobody would say it but I guess we all thought
This was the year that it wouldn't run at all.

What with greenhouse effect, and yer gypsy moth
Not to mention yer acid rain
The maple trees are hurtin', when they should be spurtin'
And someday they just won't run again.

But sure enough when we all got busy
With a million other things to do
The nights got clear and the ground began to thaw
and the sap came a pumpin' through.

Boilin' Bob started stokin' the fire day and night
And taking off a gallon or two
While Gary ran the tractor and the rest of us kept busy
Just doin' all the stuff you got to do

We were trottin' round the bush with our white plastic buckets
While the ironwoods whipped us in the face.
I swear to God my arms must have stretched three inches
While the tractor and the wagon I chased.

When the syrup comes off hot, that's when you want to pack it
And the summer kitchen's full of those orange and white cans
They're all labeled and graded and certified organic
So be sure to come and buy some real maple syrup, man.
(We accept cash)

This was the year that our luck finally turned,
We can pay for the tractor and the bottles and cans
We almost got out of the hole we were in...
But for next year we sure need a new front pan.

Yep....I reckon if we're lucky we might come through the season only owing five or six dollars for every hour we put in...it's yer trickle-down ergonomics.  Finally, yesterday we boiled down three hundred gallons of sap to about a quart of syrup. We're talkin' richly flavored, textured, full-bodied organic syrup here.  Burned about five cords of slabwood to do it. That's when the season's done, for sure.

          It's over now, thank God it's over,
          It's over for another year.
          The syruping is done, it sure had us on the run,
          But it's over for another year.

There's a couple of minor details before we're all home free
One is that our houses look like after World War Three.
Another is a thousand buckets still hangin' on the trees
So pass the scrub brush, and the hose and get down on your knees

          It isn't over yet, until the cleanup's done
          This is when our friends stop coming here.
          Get the scrub brush and the hose, be prepared to soak your clothes
          Then it's over for another year.

Copyright 1989, by Bill Cameron

Back to Top