BILL AND SUE-ON HILLMAN: A 50-YEAR MUSICAL ODYSSEY
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A MUSICAL ODYSSEY

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2. THE OVERFLOWING RIVER
Roll on river --- Roll on river --- Roll on river

To the north one day I wandered
For years had been my dream
Just to see that land of caribou and snow
But instead I found a paradise
Of trout filled lakes and streams
Where the grizzly freely wanders to and fro

From one lake into another
Flowed the waters cool and clear
You could see the basking pickerel in the streams
'Twas the Overflowing River
Rippling gently on its way
Winding through that land of birch and evergreen

There we found the Burrell cabins
Weary at the close of day
Sit and ponder o'er that land of mystery
Hear the timber wolves a howling
And the loon a laughing gay
While the moonlight casts its shadows through the trees

In the distance two eyes shining
'Twas a lynx along the shore
The big cat starts a quiver up your spine
But the thrill is not completed
For a rustling in the woods
And a great bull moose a tramping through the pines

In the heavens screamed the night hawk
While the great owl wings his way
Some  tiny creature sure to meet his doom
And I see two lovers strolling
Gayly wandering hand in hand
As they pledge their love beneath the shining moon

If you're tired of life and weary
If your burdens got you down
And life is such that you can hardly bear
Take my tip and start your journey
To that peaceful northern land
To that Overflowing River way up there.

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3. BEEF, IRON AND  WINE
Beef, Iron and Wine
Beef, Iron and Wine
There's no breathalizer for Beef, Iron and Wine.

By a fence I was leaning
Just kinda day dreaming
When a friend said you're worried
Your spirits declined
You just need a tonic
The label's right on it
An old-fashoned bottle
Of Beef, Iron and Wine

I went out on the highway
A doing it my way
When  a cop pulled me down
Said that speeding's a crime
You wouldn't believe it
He just couldn't leave it
When I gave him a snort of
My Beef, Iron and Wine

I was crossing the railway
The train got in  my way
They all said I'd had it
The doctor was cryin'
Enough of that shock talk
Just reach in my smock doc
And give me a drink of
My Beef, Iron and Wine

Now a bull that was grazin'
In a temper was blazin'
I just had to fight for
A life that was mine
I reached for the bottle
Grabbed him by the  throttle
And gave him a shot of
My Beef, Iron and Wine

Now I phoned up the mat room
Our baby would soon come
The doc said don't worry
It's over and fine
He said you've got a bouncer
A two hundred ouncer
You must have been drinking
That Beef, Iron and Wine

I went to the clinic
To see what was in it
They sampled the tonic
And said it was fine
Gave me a prescription
'Twill cure your addiction
And they drank my bottle of
Beef, Iron and Wine.

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4. BEHIND A WILLOW
Standing by the cool still waters
In the pebbles on the shore
I watched a stranger digging
Wondered what he's searching for
When I heard the branches snapping
Saw a shadow in the trees
And I hid behind a willow on my knees
That shadow took my breath away
So lovely standing there
The stranger held her close
And ran his fingers through her hair
Then they knelt where he was digging
Raised a diamond from the stones
And he placed it on a finger of her hand.

Kneeling there behind a willow
Watching strangers on the shore
I saw two hearts in rhythm
In the hour they waited for
In a place they planned together
All alone they thought to be
But I watched  behind a  willow on my knees
Her beauty  took my  breath away
So lovely standing there
The stranger ran his fingers through her hair
Then I saw a teardrop falling
From her eyes all seeped in joy
As she looked into the future with her man.

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5. HAIL TO PRINCE ALBERT
Oh the great western plains
Have a story to tell
From the North West Rebellion
To the fate of Riel
But the one we tell now
Of a much different quest
That of John Diefenbaker
From out of the West

From the boy in Prince Albert
To the law of the land
To the prisoners defence
He would walk to the stand
But his sights were much higher
There was greatness somewhere
And on Parliament Hill
The Prime Minister's chair

Now he tells his own story
How he tasted defeat
Knew the path of a member
Was not always sweet
But he'd try once again
And they gave him the lake
And his first seat in Parliament
And history to make

Now with Dief it was action
He went out on the street
And he dug up the Tories
A long time asleep
Yes, he walked with his friends
Oh the plain common man
And they cried Diefenbaker
All over the land

He abolished the Arrow
Too costly he said
Then he salvaged the farmers
Muse save them instead
He adjusted the buck
So our neighbours could buy
And he said keep that hydrogen
Out of our skies

He would stand all alone
When his friends passed him by
Any shadow on Parliament
He'd hold in despise
His famed bill of rights
Is a witness to show
Packing halls and arenas
Wherever hee goes.

Now he's free from the reins
And looks in on the scene
Though he still stands and fightss
For his country and Queen
You can scheme and connive
But you can't hurt his name
For the word Diefenbaker
Is already fame.

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6. THE TWENTY THIRD DAY
On the 23rd day of December, I began
My long long journey in a big big land

I was born one day
By the town of Arrow River
Where the winds were cold
And made a little boy shiver
Where the Grand Trunk winding
Through the hills would blow
And her whistle would rattle
In the drifting snow
The world was wrapped in holly
With the tinsel on the trees
For a baby in a manger
Who would mean a lot to me
And on the twenty third day
Of December I began
My long long journey
In a big big land.

I remember with my father
To the little town I'd go
Beside him on the wagon
With the horses it was slow
He would always buy me something
With the little that he had
For there's nothing like the bonds
Between a father and his dad
I remember when a cyclone
Tore the fences from the ground
But on Sunday we're back praying
In the church there in our town
And we sang the hymns together
With my parents I would stand
For that long long journey
In a big big land.

The world was wrapped in holly
With the tinsel on the trees
For a baby in a manger
Who would mean a lot to me
On the twenty third day
Of December I began
My long long journey
In a big big land.

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7. MEXICAN WOMAN
Mexican Woman -- Mexican Woman
I said, Mexican Woman, you've done something to me
I said, Mexican Woman, you've done something to me

Many times I had walked
That old path to the river
The squirrels they would chatter
While the King Fisher screamed
I loved the wild call
Of a moose on the mountain
But the timber wolves howl
Made me frightened it seemed

I heard a new song
And looked out o'er the hillside
A great eagle glided
So graceful and free
But again came that song
That shook the whole valley
I loved it and here's
How it sounded to me

Now how could one find
A voice in the timber
The valley alive with
It's creatures in song
Like a dream it appeared
A shadow of beauty
And there she was standing
Hair shining and long

Her eyes they had meaning
Skin soft like an olive
She smiled when I waved
Something lovely to see
I ran, took her hand
And as she breathed on my shoulder
I said Mexican woman
You've done something to me
I said Mexican woman
You've done something to me

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8. IN THE OPERATING ROOM
CHORUS:
Oh the pain, oh the pain
Oh the pain is something terrible
Oh the pain

Well I'm up the elevator
And in the operating room
The nurse gave me a needle
And says they'l be at it soon
She's awfully nice and pretty man
I said you'll stick around
She said you'll be alright my dear
And I'll not be leaving town

At that I heard a footstep
Of the doctor in the hall
If it wasn't for that matron
I know I'd surely bawl
He didn't seem excited
A smile upon his face
But I wish that he'd dismiss me
And get me outa this place

Well, he starts right in a working
And says open your mouth
He stretched my cheeks both east and west
Me jaw bones north and south
He drove a brace between my teeth
To hold me open wide
And I says, "Say Doc," I didn't think
That you had to climb inside

Now he said it was my tonsils
And sharpens up his knife
But he couldn't get it past my tongue
To make the proper slice
So he takes a piece of binder twine
And slips it round to the lamp rod
Which from the ceiling hung

Now Doc was getting angry
But he thought he'd had me beat
But he forgot with all his care
That he hadn't tied me feet
With one big jump I left the bed
But from the ceiling hung
Cause I forgot that in the fight
Old Doc had tied me tongue

Well, that old Doc he didn't wait
He just went right ahead
The nurses they all nearly died
Laughing so they said
They said I looked so funny there
A hanging by a rope
But I don't care, at least I got
The tonsils form me throat.

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9. BIG BEAR
Big --- Big --- Bear
Big Snow-White Fluffy Bear
Big Bear

High in the north land
And deep in the snow
A howling blizzard raging
And it's forty five below
Away from the dangers
Awaiting them there
Lie two fluffy little bundles
And a big white polar bear
Soon they will ride on
The iceflowing bay
Soon they will master the sea
But a rifle will rattle
And blood flow in pain
And the big white fluffy stranger's
In danger again.

From Churchill he wanders
The shores of the seas
He's king of the coast line
Right up to Moosonee
But there's somebody watching
And eyeing him there
And he's waiting to slaughter
A big white Polar Bear
He dreams of that white rug
Stretched out on his floor
With his friends he will revel in pride
And his rifle will rattle
And blood flow in pain
And the big white fluffy stranger's
In danger again.

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10. SASKATCHEWAN FOR ME
Oh, it's Saskatchewan for me

Oh give me that home on the prairies
Where the sunset will cause you to stand
Where love is in fact
A bad heart attack
When those prairie girls take you in hand
Those wide open spaces still haunt me
Those fields in the wind waving free
But in the peace and the quiet of the evening
Again it's Saskatchewan for me

When we want a mountain, we build it,
We shove it right up to the sky
The timber we plant
And don't say we can't
Have a waterfall misty and high
We'll see that it rains on our mountain
We'll see that there's snow there to ski
But in the peace and quiet of the evening
Again it's Saskatchewan for me.

When we want a lake, we just build it
When we want a dam, keep in mind
That the waters will flow
Where we make it go
And we leave all the problems behind
Our own Gordie Howe is a legend
Ernie Richardson's rock throwing ease
But in the peace and the quiet of the evening
Again it's Saskatchewan for me.

We raised that young man in Prince Albert
Gave him the Prime Minister's chair
The Rough Riders can still
Take the Grey Cup at will
But they pass it around to be fair
We train the young Mounty for duty
The Bentley's made fame so you see
That in the peace and the quiet of the evening
Again it's Saskatchewan for me.

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12. HURLEYVILLE TAXI NO. 2
Oh the heart strings are throbbing down in old Echo Bay
Where the great Howard Hurley and his famous hogs stay
Where the names Red and Rusty, their squeal and their grunt
Means two giant boars in a carnival stunt
Now the team has been broken but the show will go on
There's only old Red now cause old Rusty's gone
With his 800 lbs. Just too much for his feet
Howard Hurley in tears put old Rusty to sleep.

Now can you just imagine a big team of swine
Hooked up on a surrey all fringed and so fine
And the people would pay for a ride just to say
I rode in the Hurleyville Taxi today
From twenty odd countries they signed in the book
They couldn't believe it, they'd stand and they'd look
As old Red and Rusty pulled the wagon about
With the harness hooked over their long ugly snouts.

Now don't let us cry for that bacon and bone
The world will not end now cause Rusty's gone home
The Hurleyville Taxi won't go to the shelf
Cause old Red's made his mind up to pull it himself

This world has its wonders but never before
Has man tamed and harnessed two big  grizzly boars
Their fans came in thousands all over the land
And folk stood in wonder on every grandstand
When old Howard Hurley would pick up the reigns
Those two giant hogs would take off down the lane
And the people would come be the thousands to ride
But they bow now  in sorrow cause Rusty has died.

Now I just had a phone call while writing this rhyme
Long distance is calling, Echo Bay on the line
Hello Russ, this is Howard, then he broke down and cried
And I knew what had happened, old Red had just died
He just couldn't take it with old Rusty gone
The Hurleyville Taxi could never go on
But the song we'll be singing in tribute will say
I rode in the Hurleyville Taxi today

Now don't let us cry for that bacon and bone
Cause old Red and Rusty have gone to their home
And the song we'll be singing in tribute will say

I rode the Hurleyville Taxi today.

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