Anyways heres the words and music to St John after the War. Ive included a little story of what its about. Ive never officially recorded it so if your here you must have got here word of mouth.Its funny how far this song has travelled, and if you start playin it its goin to travel further, kinda like the old note in a bottle. Its a strange world.
St John after the war
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As I sit here and write you this letter I feel
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that im almost beside you not on the north sea
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send me pictures of springtime and robins in hintonburg
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and i'll sail my corvette for free
your reflection amazed me it woke me it dayzed me
the moonlight is reversing reality
and as i stare through my teardrop the gunfire just wont stop
on fire i fall in the sea
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but like a bluebird on your window
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ill be waiting in the morning
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ill be flying like the flag on the first of july
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and if my words start repeating
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it means that were meeting in St John after the war
In that warm mountain weather when we were together
around wakefield and wolf lake and camp pellerin
but the winds were depressing and the u-boats addressing
their parties to old montreal
I remember the sinking and many were thinking
why it was us that lived through that hell
but for me it was you and the baby thats due
and ill see you after the war
but like a bluuebird
. words and music Charlie Gardner (last verse Aaron Zaadich once Don Gardner)
NOTES ON THE SONG
This is the story of Charlie Gardner and Helen Rennie both born in 1917 and both lived in the Burg, Helen on Melrose and Charlies family moved around a bit but always in the Burg. Charlie was born in Airdrie Scotland and came over to Canada in 1929. Helen's sister Lena was also born in Scotland and she always lorded it over Helen as we were always told when we were kids that we were actually Scottish.
Well in 1937 Charlie joined the Navy probably because of the song Evry Good Girl Loves a Sailor and never spoke of the war. The only story he ever told me was that in 1937 he was on the deck of a destroyer and was all distraught after receiving a telegram. It was from the Militia in Aylmer Quebec and instructed him that if he did not appear in Aylmer by the end of the week he would be declared AWOL followed by a Court Marshall. He was so worried that he took it up with the skipper. The skipper read the telegram and said dont worry Charlie I'll handle this for you.Then he took the telegram and threw it into the North Atlantic.I know he was on three ships that were sank and the families believed he was killed, but apparently he had been moved to another ship before the trajedy, I know one of the ships was the destroyer Ottawa. Helen worked as a nurse in St John N.B. during the war and I dont know much about this time except for some old pictures my sister and cousins have.
Camp Pellerin was owned by my uncle Tiger Tim who married Lena. It was probably the nicest spot i can remember on the North end of Lac Lapeche.Anybody that knows the area will know the wooden bridge (its still there) that crosses the Lapeche creak and leads to Pellerin Point. Anyway it had a dining hall ,a hotel, an ice house and alot of small cottages that were rented out to Americans. I can still remember parties where we had lots of fiddlers. I was always minded by Maman who looked after the dining hall and watched all the kids. My best friend was Richard who spoke no english and i spoke no french. We spent all our time out in rowboats catching frogs and selling them to the Americans. Anyways i guess the NCC couldnt bear seeing us having all that much fun so they expropriated it in the late fifties. Nobody needs a real fishing camp in Gatineau Park. I think thats when i first started hating snooty people in line departments. Oh and by the way the QPP used to park their cruisers by the cottage and come up on the hill and drink beer with Lena and Tim. I remember asking one of them to show me his gun which he did without hesitation. He was a proud cop, I was a proud kid.