Poem by W.E. Jeffery in Kingston, Jamaica, 1941
I hope some day
that I’ll go back
When this bloomin’ war is over,
And settle down in a
little shack
No more I’ll be a rover.
I’ll cultivate some peas and corn
And raise some pigs and cattle
And rise up early every morn
Nor dream of
strife and battle.
I’ll find the girl I left behind
They tell me she is
still single
And if she hasn’t changed her mind
The wedding bells will
jingle.
And when we come to the end of the trail
And twilight closes o’er
us,
I know she’ll help to set the sail
For the voyage that lies before
us.
Song by Bill Jeffery N.P.C.
Take me back to Manitoba
When this
bloody war is over.
Take me back to Manitoba for to stay.
I can hear the
north wind blowing
And it's there that I am going.
Take me back to
Manitoba for to stay.
For to stay - For to stay
Where the old folks and the children love to play.
I can see the flowers
springing
And the grey geese northward winging.
Oh! I hope I'll soon be
back there for to stay.
Take me back to Manitoba
Let me see those fields of clover
And the
summer sun ashining every day.
O'er those rolling fields o' grain
That go
stretching o'er the plain.
In dear ol' Manitoba far away.
Far away - Far away
Oh, I never thought I'd be so far away.
I can hear the cattle lowing
And the freight train whistle blowing.
To be back there is the thing for
which I pray.
Take me back to Manitoba,
'Cause I'm sick of being a rover.
Take me
back to the home I love and I'll be gay.
All the ties that really bind me
To the folks I left behind me
Are pulling at my heart string every day.
Every day - Every day
Oh the time is getting shorter every day.
There's a maid whose heart is
pining
But her eyes, they will be shining
When I'm back in Manitoba for to
stay.