Lännen lokari

Hiski Salomaa

Originale Versione in finlandese letterario... Traduzione inglese / English translation...	Traduzione inglese 2, versione cantabile / English translation...
LOGGER OF THE WEST	LOGGER OF THE WEST
Here's a logger from the thickets of the West,	I'm a logger from the timber camps of the West,
I've been roaming around just about everywhere.	And I've rambled nigh all over!
I've been to Butte, St. Louis,	I have been out to Butte and L.A. to boot,
Red Lodge, Miami.	Red Lodge and Miami, sir.
I've been crossing oceans and continents	I have been on the sea and the continents,
And the mountains of Alaska,	And the peaks up in Alaska!
And wherever I go, wild girls remember	And just ev'ry place I go the wild girls all know
The loggers of the West.	The loggers of the West.
A logger is a logger and he takes himself a gal	Now a logger is a guy who'll take him a gal,
Even if she belongs to somebody else,	Even if she is somebody else's.
And he won't shed tears if he looses sight	Never fear, not a tear will he shed at all,
Of the eastern girls.	When he leaves those Eastern lasses.
For there's a rose in Butte and a star in St. Louis	'Cause a Butte gal is fine, L.A. stars they shine,
And in Alaska there are snow buntings,	What a snow bird in Alaska!
And all of them keep whispering, »Have you seen	And they whisper one and all, »Have you seen this fall,
The wanderer of the West?«	That rambler of the West?«
Be it a an angel of Mexico or a maiden of Honolulu	Where's a Mexicali gal, Honolulu pearl,
Or a yellow Filipino girl,	Or a pretty Filipina,
A logger's been amid them,	There this logger has been with them one and all,
But how about Iikka of the East 1) ?	Better than any city slicker.
Where a wanderer has his honey, his heart strikes fire,	Where I cast my eye, my heart beats high,
As her hair looks so beautiful.	What beauties head to toe!
When you hear this song, you may think it's a bird singing,	If their singing you heard, you would think it a bird,
And once again Jukka of the West 2) falls in love.	This logger's heart does know.
Been to San Francisco, seen the state of Oregon,	Now Frisco I've seen, Oregon I have been,
Where there's summer and snowtop mountains.	Where there's summer and mountains cold.
Been threshing in Dakota, swimming at Palm Beach	To Dakota I've come, at Palm Beach I've swum,
And dating both old and young.	Greeting friends both young and old.
But when you build your dwelling in a redwood stub,	When you build your house, settle 'neath the pine,
That'll be a day of joy and delight.	That day for joy you'll shout.
And however the storms of the world may rock us,	Though the storms of life can cause us strife,
Freedom will prevail come hell or high water!	Freedom finally does win out.
1) Iikka of the East, Iikka Niemi, left Finnish Sievi for America in the early 1900s. In the new world, he made his living working odd jobs as a lumberjack, gold digger and sailor. He returned to Finland in the 1930s and built himself a small house on the property of an acquaintance of his. Hiski Salomaa met Iikka in a bar where it came to an argument between Iikka and another Finn about which one of them had seen more of America. Salomaa is told to have picked up the the names of the locations mentioned in the course of the heated discussion and reproduced them in the lyrics of this song. After having written the song he gave the lyrics to Iikka who brought them with him to Finland. 2) Jukka of the West, Jukka Karjalainen (1900 - 1981), moved to America in 1920 returned to Finland in the early 1930s.