
Lyrics
(Folk song)
A is for ax as you very well know;
B is the boys who can swing them just so.
C is for chopping that soon will begin;
And D is for danger we always stand in.
E is for echoes that through the woods rang,
F is the foreman, the head of our gang.
G is the grindstone that swiftly does move;
And H is the handle, so slick and so smooth.
Refrain
Sing hi derry-o, so merry are we,
No mortal on earth is as happy as we.
Sing hi derry, hi derry down,
At the woodman’s shanty there’s nothing goes wrong.
I is the iron to mark all the pine,
J is the jobber who’s never on time.
K is keen edges our axes do keep,
And L is the lumber in woods dark and deep.
M is the moss that we stuff in our camp,
And N is the needle that mends our old pants.
O is the owl that hoots in the night;
And P is the pine that we fell in daylight. Refrain
Q is for quarrels we never allow,
R is the river where we drive our logs down,
S is the sleds so stout and so strong,
And T is for teams that do haul them along.
U is the uses we put our teams to,
V is the valley we drive the sleds through;
W the woods which we leave in the spring,
And X, Y, Z, that’s all I’m going to sing. Refrain
See also
- Subjects: lumbering / alphabet
- Form: AB
- Harmony: chords I, IV, V
- Meter: 3
- Source of melody & some of these lyrics: A Singing School: We Sing, C. C. Birchard, 1940
- different lyrics / different melody
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody

