adamruzzomusic

This is my original arrangement of Canada's oldest Christmas Carol. Purchase on my website if ya like! www.adamruzzo.com Adam Ruzzo - Vocals, guitar, bouzouki - www.adamruzzo.com Ian Tamblyn - Hammer Dulcimer - www.iantamblyn.com Max Senitt - Percussion - https://www.maxsenitt.com This song is considered to be Canada's oldest Carol. A Jesuit by the name of Jean de Brebeuf wrote the words in wendat to an old French traditional melody "Une Jeune Purcelle" while living among the Huron people on the shores of Lake Huron in 1640. History is messy, history happens... He wrote the song in an effort to teach the Hurons about Christianity, about the birth of Jesus. He likely thought he was saving these people from eternal suffering because they didn't know of Christianity. Regardless of moral opinions the matter, the song encapsulates the early origins of modern day Canada - Jesuits, Huron people, imagery of wilderness, native culture meets European culture, Gitchi Manitou meets Jesus so to speak. Shortly after writing this song for the Huron people, Jean and other Hurons were taken captive, ritually tortured and killed by Iroquois in 1649. But this song remains, and the result is a hauntingly beautiful gem of history bordering on the mystical.

Some are adventurous enough to leave it all behind and trade the city for the frontier. I've met a few of these souls around Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, living by the 'Big Lake' - Lake Superior. This is little anthem about these courageous few who have embraced the mysterious frontier of Superior Country! If you like this song, feel free to check it out/buy it on my website! https://www.adamruzzo.com/music You Can Also Find me on Apple Music & Spotify! APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/the-land-the-sea-the-people/1614451675 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/56B2naIYg5aaTieLkzEVGD?si=WRmm93wJQpeA9YEK8ieRfw Big Thanks to @MattSteeves Who Made this AWESOME video for me! lyrics Tired of the city life and Yearning for northern pine stands Ever-calling They gave notice to the boss for Leaving for good out the door All the way smiling They traded comfort for the trail To the north wind set sail Free and clear Let the wind and waters guid em At the mercy of the Raw-land frontier In the Arms of the Big Lake The charms of long summer days Treelines never-ending The Great Northern Mystery Journeyed all on through the heartland Tired from the summer heat and So many miles Scaled every rock hilltop Drank from her icy water So clear and wild Feet burned on lonesome white sand Hands froze through sudden fog and Relentless wind Every-rambling at the lake edge Under watchful eyes of the Painted Legends In the Arms of the Big Lake The charms of long summer days Treelines never-ending The Great Northern Mystery Humbled by the elements now, Wiser than the other folks who Never left town Seldom looking back behind em Just some dusty tracks tell where they’d been In the Arms of the Big Lake The charms of long summer days Treelines never-ending The Great Northern Mystery SONG CREDITS Adam Ruzzo - Vocals, Guitars, Bouzouki Tom Fitzgerald - Fiddle Max Senitt - Drums

This is a song off of my new album, 'The Waters That Bind' - https://www.adamruzzo.com/album/2509593/the-waters-that-bind This is an OLD paddling song that goes back to the days of fur trading and voyageurs in Canada. Certain phrases in the song have been traced back to 15th-century France, where it originated. Songs like this were sung with voices only as the men paddled ALL day long, in a way to lift spirits and break the monotony of the long days. When I'm out in the wild areas of Canada I often imagine hearing the old voices of these people echoing around the fresh water lakes and rivers. This is the first French song I've ever recorded, and certainly not the last! Folk songs like this from Quebec, Canada are amazing. The images in the video are of my time in old Quebec city and the nature shots are from around Quebec and Ontario. Fiddle and Foot Percussion by Robin Leblanc of New Brunswick! Check out Le Famille Leblanc. If you'd like to support me, the best and easiest way is to purchase a digital album from my website: https://www.adamruzzo.com/album/2509593/the-waters-that-bind TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH: (The verses repeat a lot, here's the general) Returning from Rochelle I encountered three pretty young ladies. I chose the prettiest, who got on my saddle behind me. We rode one hundred leagues without talking until she asked for a drink. I took her to a spring, where she refused to drink. I took her to her father's home, Where she drank glass after glass And toasted to the health Of her mother and father, And the one she loved. Chorus it is the oar (or rowing) that leads us it's the oar (or rowing) that takes us to the top Links to All of My Original Music: APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/the-land-the-sea-the-people/1614451675 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/56B2naIYg5aaTieLkzEVGD?si=WRmm93wJQpeA9YEK8ieRfw BANDCAMP: https://adamruzzo.bandcamp.com YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_aZBes4EL3eiZeSOO3uBdhfeHey1GIpQ Support the Channel If You Like With a Donation: PayPal Donation: paypal.me/adamruzzomusic Please Connect With Me Online! TIkTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cabinspeak Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamruzzomusic/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adamruzzomusic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AdamRuzzo Website: www.adamruzzo.com APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/the-land-the-sea-the-people/1614451675 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/56B2naIYg5aaTieLkzEVGD?si=WRmm93wJQpeA9YEK8ieRfw BANDCAMP: https://adamruzzo.bandcamp.com YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_aZBes4EL3eiZeSOO3uBdhfeHey1GIpQ

The words in this song are actually from a poem written by George Marsh in 1905. If you listen/read closely, you'll see that they are from the perspective of a tired old canoe, left to rot on a remote shoreline. Around the forests in Lake country, this is a common site. The words tell the tale from the perspective of one such canoe who has seen much adventure in its life. If you like this song, feel free to check it out/buy it on my website! https://www.adamruzzo.com/music You Can Also Find me on Apple Music & Spotify! APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/the-waters-that-bind/1697035623 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/track/4HyFzJYixvWhOgkSfb39no?si=3ff53a4bd0d045f9 Big Thanks to MattSteeves Who Made this AWESOME video for me! Big thanks to David Bain @watersong111 who originally put this poem to music. I used his version as the basis and inspiration for my version. SONG CREDITS Adam Ruzzo - Vocals, Guitars, Bouzouki Tom Fitzgerald - Fiddle Max Senitt - Drums Produced by John MacLean and Adam Ruzzo Lyrics: My seams gape wide, so I'm tossed aside To rot on a lonely shore While the leaves and mould like a shroud unfold, For the last of my trails are o'er; But I float in dreams on Northland streams That never again I'll see, As I lie on the marge of the old portage With grief for company. When the sunset gilds the timbered hills That guard Temagami, And the moonbeams play on far James Bay By the brink of the frozen sea, In phantom guise my spirit flies As the dream-blades dip and swing Where the waters flow from the Long Ago In the spell of the beck'ning spring. Do the cow-moose call on the Montreal When the first frost bites the air, And the mists unfold from the red and gold That the autumn ridges wear? When the white falls roar as they did of yore On the Lady Evelyn, Do the square-tail leap from the black pools deep Where the pictured rocks begin? Oh! the fur-fleets sing on Timiskaming As the ashen paddles bend, And the crews carouse at Rupert House At the sullen winter's end; But my days are done where the lean wolves run And I ripple no more the path Where the gray geese race 'cross the red moon's face From the white wind's Arctic wrath. Tho' the death-fraught way from the Saguenay To the storied Nipigon Once knew me well, now a crumbling shell I watch the years roll on, While in memory's haze I live the days That forever are gone from me, As I lie on the marge of the old portage With grief for company