Standard (EADGBE)

Westward from the / Davis Strait,

 'Tis / there was said to / lie,

 The / sea route to the / Orient,

 For / which so many / died,

Seeking gold and / glory,

 Leaving / weathered broken / bones, and

 A / long forgotten / lonely cairn of / stones. / /

Chorus

 Three / centuries there - / after,

 I take / passage over / land,

 In the / footsteps of brave / Kelso,

 Where his / "sea of flowers" be - / gan.

 Watching / cities rise be - / fore me,

 Then be - / hind me sink a - / gain,

 This / tardiest ex - / plorer,

 Driving / hard, a - cross the / plains. / /

Chorus

 And / through the night be - / hind the wheel,

 The / mileage clicking / west,

 I / think upon Mac - / kenzie,

 David / Thompson, and the / rest,

 Who / cracked the mountain / ramparts, and

 Did / show a path for / me,

 To / race the roaring / Fraser, to the / sea. / /

Chorus

 How / then am I so / different,

 From the / first men through this / way,

 Like / them, I left a / settled life,

 I / threw it all a - / way,

 To / seek a Northwest / Passage,

 At the / call of many / men,

 To / find there, but the / road back home a - / gain. / /

Chorus