[Note: My grandmother was born and raised in Manistique, a small logging town on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I visited there for the first time a couple of years ago and found the locals singing this old traditional dog-sledding song. I thought I'd share this bit of doggie doggerel with you.]

The Musher’s Song

(U. P. In The Snow)

Well, I got me some doggies and I got me a sled (Crowd: Mush On, Mush On)

But I don’t got a woman and I don’t got a bed (Mush On, Mush On)

I got a little bacon and I got a bunch of beans

And a great big salami down inside my jeans

[Note: Mushers often keep their perishables this way to prevent freezing.]

Well, I’ve heard the wolves howl at the Northern Lights

I’ve howled myself through some lonesome nights

Well, I gotta hit the trail when the sun is shiny

And I never see nothing but a bunch of dog heinie

Refrain:

U. P. (the crowd echoes drunkenly: U. P.!) in the snow (in the snow!)

U. P. [again] in the snow [again]

Well, we took a little tumble and the dogs got loose

Now the only way to town is down inside my boots

When I finally got to town the dogs had made a switch

They left with a woman and they left me a bitch

[Note: that's what a female dog is called.]

Well, drinkin' all night and now I've got to go

Soon you'll see my name in the yellow snow

Well, I won’t go to heaven but I might go to France

They got some pretty little women there who don’t wear pants

[Note: In other words, they wear dresses.]

U. P. in the snow

U. P. in the snow

Copyright 2006 Tom Bishop