Secord in Song: Tanglefoot

Tanglefoot - Secord's Warning (2004)

In 2004, Joe Grant and Steve Ritchie, members of the popular Canadian folk ensemble Tanglefoot, wrote a memorable original song about Laura Secord which has become the unofficial walking anthem for the Laura Secord Legacy Trail. Songwriter Joe Grant emailed the President of the Friends of Laura Secord, Caroline McCormick, and encouraged her to get people to learn the song. Here's an enjoyable video tutorial... learn it well, and sing it out heartily as you walk into history, wherever you are!

 
 

SECORD'S WARNING

Tanglefoot


Lyrics and Music: Joe Grant and Steve Ritchie

From the album 'Music in the Woods' – Borealis Records


Come all you brave young soldier lads


With your strong and manly bearing


I'll tell you a tale of a woman bold and her deed of honest daring


Laura Secord was American-born in the state of Massachusets


But she made her home in Canada and proved so faithful to us

Chorus:


There's American guns and 500 men


So the warning must be given


And Laura Ingersoll Secord was the stalwart heart


Who braved the heat and the flies and the swamp


To warn Colonel Fitzgibbon

There's soldiers pounding at the door


And they come from across the border


American officers march inside


It's food and drink they've ordered

In comfort they have dined and drunk


Their own success they've toasted


But they pay no heed to the woman who hears their plan so idly boasted

Oh, James I've overheard it all


A surprise attack they're making


Fitzgibbon they intend to smash


His men for prisoners taking

And James a warning never you'll take with your wounded knee and shoulder


I myself must carry it past the sentries and the soldiers

It's an all-day tramp to the British camp


By way of Shipman's Corners

There're snakes and flies and sweat in her eyes


There is no respite for her


She's lost her shoes in the muck of the bog


Her feet are torn and blistered

But there's many a soldier lad to be spared if the message be delivered

So all you Yankee soldier lads who dare to cross our border


Thinking to save us from ourselves


Usurping British order

There's women and men Canadians all


Of every rank and station


To stand on guard and keep us free


From Yankee domination!



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