The Cremation of Sam Mcgee

Ah those old northern lights, they have seen clear sights
But the clearest sights that they did ever see
It was on a moonlit mars of that old Lake Lavard
On the night that I cremated Sam McGee

Now my pal Sam McGee was from ol' Tennersee
In the land where the cotton blooms grow
But why Sam left his home in the deep deep south ta roam



Round the cold way up north God only knows

In the long search for gold he was always so cold
How he longed again to roam the southern plain
I would love to see him wade, how he feared the icy glade
When I die he said cremate my last remains

Well a fellows last need is a thing we have to heed
So I promised and I swore I would not fail
And again we started on at the first streaks o dawn

But o God he was looki.n' ghastly pale

He crouched on the sleigh and he raved away all day
About the warmth from his home in Tennersee
And before the night did fall, I'd a promise to recall
Cause that was all that's left of Sam McGee

And I came upon the mars of that old Lake Lavard
Where a broken down derelic did lay
She was jammed there in a vice of twenty feet of frozen ice

Was abandoned and left there to decay

Some planks I quickly tore from it's old cabin floor
And I gathered up the chunks of scattered boards
Soon the blaze was burnin' red, seem'd that ol' McGee was dead
So I stuffed him in that ol' crematin' hole

There sat my buddy Sam lookin' mighty cool and calm
In the heart of those furnace flames galore
And he wore a great big smile you could almost see a mile

As he chuckled hurry up an' close the door

She's a fine place in here but I greatly fear
You may let in that awful cold and storm
For since I left Palm Tree down in good ol' Tennersee
She's the first time that I've been better warm

Ah those old northern lights, they have seen clear sights
But the clearest sights that they did ever see
It was on a moonlit mars of that old Lake Lavard

On the night that I cremated Sam McGee
On the night that I cremated Sam McGee