Long have I lived in the Canyon.
Long have I lived in the bush
Sometimes I get a great notion
To get out of here in a rush

Sometimes it makes me happy;
Most time it gets me down;
Sometimes I take me a notion
to jump in the Forebay[1] and drown!

(Chorus:)

Canyon, good bye-I-I. Canyon farewell!
Goodbye, Canyon; goodbye, Canyon.
No longer here I'll dwell!

So what's the use of beefing?
Nobody hears your cry!
Sometimes I think that the Region
… will leave me up here to die!

What is the use of payday?
What is the use of dough?
Money will not kill the blackfly;
Money will not melt the snow!

(Chorus:)

Canyon, good bye-I-I. Canyon farewell!
Goodbye, Canyon; goodbye, Canyon.
No longer here I'll dwell!

The Russians send folks to Siberia…
to labour and toil without pay!
The Hydro sent me to the Canyon…
What's tough about salt mines, I say!

Some people think drinking's a pleasure.
Some people think drinking's a vice!
But nobody drinks in the Canyon
Cuz nobody's got the price!

(repeat chorus)

If North Bay is driving you crazy;
If Timmins is bugging you too;
Come stay for a while in the Canyon…
But bring a straight jacket with you!

What a life! What a place! What a madhouse!
It haunts me the whole day through;
You ask me, do I want a transfer?
I'll ask you another…don't you?

(repeat chorus)

Oh, bring on your Canyon tractor;
I'm feeling weary and ill.
Carry me over the muskeg,
Bury me under the hill.

Give me a spruce for a tombstone
Inscribed with this epitaph clear…
"He dropped all he had for the Hydro…
the Hydro just dropped him in here!"

(repeat chorus)

[1] Forebay - the bay pooled in front of and feeding into the sluices of the hydro dam.

(Above words by Len G. Selle)