Crossing the Border
(Si Kahn)
D A D
As a young man he traveled through Russia
G C D
With his uncle and two other singers
G A Bm
But they drafted him into the Army
D G A
And he had to escape from there
D A D
When the guards that they'd bribed at the border
G C D
Started shooting at him and the others
G A D
They turned back, but he kept on going
G A D
And kept going for ninety-two years
D/G A D
We are crossing the border
F#m/G D A
We are crossing the border
D/G A Bm
We are crossing the border
G A D
Come go, come go, come go
He got passage to Nova Scotia
Was married in Manitoba
He shoveled dirt for the Canadian Pacific
Carried hod when the built the hotel
Land was a dollar an acre
But he was too careful to buy it
So when they found oil on it
He still had the story to tell
Then he moved down south of the border
By the mills on the Merrimack River
He pumped gas and kept store for a living
Raised up his daughter and sons
He's sit at the head of the table
Drinking Haig & Haig pinch bottle whiskey
And I'd wonder how someone so gentle
Could have done all the things that he'd done
He got old and he lived by the ocean
I went with my children to see him
He stared through the cataracts at them
But I think that he saw them just right
We buried him up in New England
And maybe that's home for the wanderer
But home is where the heart is
And my heart's with my Zayde tonight
Copyright Joe Hill Music