Union Songs
The Smell of Money
A Song by Smokey Dymny©Smokey Dymny 1999
Tune: Blackleg Miner- [play]
In Campbell River both day and night,
The pulp smell's much worse than the sight,
You may get cancer, but that's all right,
Cause that's the smell of money.
Chorus
So, 'green' your union while you may,
Don't wait till your dying day,
That may not be far away
If you love the smell of money.In north Ontario it's much the same
The natives're dying for our gain
The mercury's all over Wabigoon Lake,
But, that's the smell of money
In Hamilton town there's a factory
A plastics plant that really reeks
We drive all night to get relief,
Stay away from the smell of money
Quebec Hydro dams feed aluminum plants,
Burn megawatts of energy for soft drink cans
The smelter's causing the whale's death dance
But, that's the smell of money
We burn nuclear fuel for half a century
There's tons of waste 'cause of our greed.
Wanna ship it back t' native coun-ter-y
Hey, that's the smell of money.
Drove west to the forest of Carmanagh
A man's standing there with a big chainsaw
Ask: "What're you cutting that big tree for?"
He laughs, "It's the smell of money."[no chorus]
He says: "Your car is making me choke,
You're polluting my air with all your smoke
A driving ecologists a great big joke,
If you hate the smell of money."
Notes
Many thanks to Smokey Dymny for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.
Smokey Dymny writes
"Just recently I lived for two years on an island off the coast of Vancouver Island near Campbell River. Now you cannot really exaggerate how picturesque this setting is. This small town is on the coast of the main island, with the snow-capped mountains of Vancouver Island as a backdrop it looks over the Straight of Georgia to the east where you see several islands sitting in the Straight. And then off beyond those the Coastal mountain range of mainland B.C. This little town of Campbell River calls itself "The Salmon Fishing Capitol of the World". But, if the wind is blowing from the NW - and the winds mainly blow NW or SE up and down the strait - you get horrendous, acrid lungs full of chlorine smell with every breath courtesy of the Norske pulp mill just north of town. When I first got to Campbell River I made the mistake of going into town on one of the days the wind was from the NW - I got an instant headache. The strange thing is if you ask one of the locals about it, most of them would answer with a smile and say "That’s the smell of money".""Smokey's voice is a pork chop with a little bit of road dirt."- Art Farquharson
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Smokey
http://www.newunionism.net/solidarityidol.htm
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Smokey Dymny
Box 745, Quathiaski Cove, B.C.
V0P 1N0, Canada
phone: 250-285-2447
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory