Tamarack - Logging Camp Christmas

      [Verse 1]
G
Oh the snow falls soft round the old cabin door,
       C                    G
The baby lies sleeping so still;
       C                             G         Em
And she imagines she hears the faint ring of an axe
        A                 D
‘Way back in the Pontiac hills.
          G
Well, the days grind by just like a log in a jam,
       C                       G
In the window the candle burns low;
          C                           G                Em
It’s been weeks since he left to head north to the camps-
            G             D                 G
There’ll be months before spring brings him home.

[Chorus]
          C                            G
And in the shanty they’re dancin’ on a hard-packed dirt floor
          C                                           D
While the fiddler scrapes out them old tunes one time more;
         C                                 G             Em
And he’s wond-rin’ why he’s there far from fam’ly and friends
       G          D            C
In a logging camp Christmas again.
    G                        D
And wasn’t it this time last year that he swore
        C                               G            D
That he wouldn’t spend Christmas in the log camps no more?
            G                          C             G
But there’s too little choice when the livin’s this poor;
                    D           G
It’s the only way a man can survive.

[Verse 2]
          G
Well, the wood’s gettin’ low by the fire tonight
         C                       G
And she’ll up before dawn to cut more
       C                   G             Em
But it seems only right to let it burn bright
            A                                 D
‘cause it’s Christmas and her heart’s feelin’ sore.
         G
Well, it isn’t the work that she minds when he’s gone
        C                             G
And the neighbours help out when they can,
         C                     G               Em
It’s the time slipping by from life that’s too young
      G            D           G
To be living this far from her man.

[Chorus]
          C                        G
In the shanty they’re dancin’ on a hard-packed dirt floor
          C                                           D
While the fiddler scrapes out them old tunes one time more;
         C                                 G             Em
And he’s wond-rin’ why he’s there far from fam’ly and friends
     G            D            C
In a logging camp Christmas again.
    G                        D
And wasn’t it this time last year that he swore
        C                               G             D
That he wouldn’t spend Christmas in the log camps no more?
            G                          C             G
But there’s too little choice when the livin’s this poor;
                    D           G
It’s the only way a man can survive.

[Instrument Break]
C G C D C G Em G D C

[Chorus]
          C                        G
In the shanty they’re dancin’ on a hard-packed dirt floor
          C                                           D
While the fiddler scrapes out them old tunes one time more;
         C                                 G             Em
And he’s wond-rin’ why he’s there far from fam’ly and friends
     G            D            C
In a logging camp Christmas again.
    G                        D
And wasn’t it this time last year that he swore
        C                               G             D
That he wouldn’t spend Christmas in the log camps no more?
            G                          C             G
But there’s too little choice when the livin’s this poor;
                    D           G
It’s the only way a man can survive.

[Outro]
G
Oh the snow falls soft round the old cabin door,
       C                       G
The baby lies sleeping so still;
       C                             G         Em
And she imagines she hears the faint ring of an axe
        A                           D
‘Way back in the Pontiac hills.