[1] Local and family tradition hold that Devine composed it in a Grand Falls boarding house after having been fired from his job as scaler for the Anglo Newfoundland Development Company (A.N.D.).
He sang the song at a St. Patrick's Day concert at which company officials were present and allegedly won his job back.
They say that our sailors have danger, and likewise our warriors bold, But there's none know the life of a driver, what he suffers with hardship and cold.
I tell you today home in London, The Times it is read by each man, But little they think of the fellows that drove the wood on Mary Ann, For paper is made out of pulpwood and many things more you may know, And long may our men live to drive it upon Paymeoch and Tomjoe.
The drive it is just below Badger, and everything is working grand, With a jolly good crew of picked drivers and Ronald Kelly in command, For Ronald is boss on the river, and I tell you he's a man that's alive, He drove the wood off Victoria, now he's out on the main river drive.