Crosscut Saw
Van Wagner Lyrics

Well, the war it was over and Mister Lincoln had won.
After the Civil War ended and Abraham Lincoln became victorious, I reclaimed my salary from the navy and came back home to Sullivan County.

Sullivan county where my Grandfather came,
Sullivan County is where my grandfather originally lived.

Soil rocky - and the sky's always rain.
The ground in Sullivan County is stony, and it constantly rains there.

I remember grandpa's stories of when he was a kid,
I recall my grandfather's childhood tales.

Bison in the lowlands and Elk on the ridge.
In the past, lowlands had bison, while elks lived on the ridges of Sullivan County.

Well now they're all gone and a new hunt has begun,
However, all of them are now extinct, and a new tradition of logging has commenced.

To find the tired dotten that make saw mills hum...
To search for the exhausted timber that powers the lumber mills.

All I need is my cross cut saw.
All I require is my crosscutting saw to cut the trees.

My double bit axe and eighty trees to fall.
And my two-sided axe to cut down eighty trees.

The spring is coming.
Spring is approaching.

I can smell it all around and my soul's Being tempted by that high water sound.
I can sense the smell of the season, and my inner self desires to hear the booming sound of the water.

Up on the loyal sock - well, it's straight and it's tall,
Loyalsock Creek is similar to an athletic person, straight and tall.

There's pine up there like you ain't never saw.
There is a high number of pine trees that you couldn't even imagine.

Only brave loggers bare the winter's cold -
It is only the courageous lumberjacks that face the cold winter climate.

Snow falls heavy on the Appalachian fold.
The Appalachian fold experiences excessive snowfall.

Oh, up in the morning at five A.M.
We wake up at five in the morning.

Throw down some biscuits, some coffee and ham.
We have some biscuits, coffee, and ham for breakfast.

A twelve hour shift on the teamster's crew.
As a teamster, I work twelve hours per day.

Skidding logs to the river - through the ice and snow...
We move the logs over to the river, trudging through the snow and ice.

We lash our logs together with hickory and oak,
We tie the logs using hickory and oak, without any wire or ropes, just with pins and bows.

No rope. No iron, just pins and bows.
We bring the logs together with no rope or iron, only bows and pins.

A sweep at the front and back and a shack for the crew.
The back and front of the logs have a sweep, and there is a shed for the group.

Twenty thousand board feet ready to tie loose.
We have twenty thousand board feet of timber to be prepared for shipment.

When the ice finally breaks and the water's good and high,
When the ice finally melts, and the river water level is higher, we'll start our journey.

We'll head down the loyal sock - our crew of five.
Our team of five will proceed down Loyalsock Creek.

One day on the raft down to Montouresville.
It will take one day for us to raft down to Montoursville.

We hit the Suskqwahanah where the water's smooth and still...
Once we reach Susquehanna, the water is calm and still.

Once we get to Marietta, we sell off our logs.
We sell our logs in Marietta.

One hundred dollars split by five river hogs.
We divide the one hundred dollars among five individuals since we're river hogs.

We head back North, walking all the way -
On our return, we walk all the way back North.

One hand on your knife and the other on your pay.
We keep one hand on our pay and the other hand on our knife.

Well, if it's a good season we'll have two or three more runs.
If we get lucky, we may have the chance to have two or three more runs this season.

Then this year's over and the summer's begun.
After the season ends, summer begins.

I watch as the rust builds on my tools and Long for the day I'm back with my logging crew...
I feel nostalgia as I watch my rusting tools, waiting eagerly for the day when I can join my logging crew again.