At an NPR interview in 2007, Palin stated that the scene and the whole song were created in about 15 minutes, concluding a day's work, when the Python crew was stuck and unable to come up with a conclusion to the barbershop sketch that preceded it.

This version of the song has never been released on CD, although a remix containing alternate vocal takes from the session was included on the compilation album Monty Python Sings.

The common theme was of an average man (usually Michael Palin, but in the City Center and Hollywood Bowl versions by Eric Idle) who expresses dissatisfaction with his current job (as a barber, weatherman, pet shop owner, etc.)

Ripping off his coat to reveal a red flannel shirt, he walks over to a stage with a coniferous forest backdrop and begins to sing about the wonders of being a lumberjack in British Columbia.

In the version from the film And Now For Something Completely Different, it follows on from the "Dead Parrot sketch" with Palin's character leaving the pet shop as Eric Praline (played by John Cleese) asks "I'm sorry, this is irrelevant, isn't it?"

In the song, the Lumberjack recounts his daily tasks and his personal life, such as having buttered scones for tea, and the Mountie chorus repeats his lines in sing-song fashion.

In And Now For Something Completely Different, at the end of the song the Lumberjack is pelted with rotten fruit and eggs by the Mounties, who can also be heard shouting insults.

At the end of the version in Flying Circus, a letter written by an outraged viewer (voiced by John Cleese) is shown to complain about the portrayal of lumberjacks in the sketch.

The letter reads: "Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song which you have just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women's clothes.

For example, whereas the Fliegender Zirkus version has the German chorus "Ich bin Holzfäller und fühl' mich stark, ich schlaf' des Nachts und hack' am Tag..." ("I'm a lumberjack and I feel strong, I sleep at night and I chop in the daytime...", which is the version still remembered by Palin today), the chorus in the German dub in And now for something completely different goes "Ich bin Holzfäller und mir geht's gut, am Tag packt mich die Arbeitswut..." ("I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I'm gripped by work mania throughout the day..."); it ends with the "my dear papa"-variant of the song, rhyming with the word "BH" (beːˈhaː), the German abbreviation for "Büstenhalter".

The Yllana and Imprebis theatrical groups jointly presented a show at Madrid's Teatro Alfil, consisting of sketches adapted from the Monty Python repertoire.

This performance featured Palin, Cleveland, Idle, Jones, Terry Gilliam, Neil Innes and special guest Tom Hanks.

During his 1974 North American tour, Harrison would play a recording of "The Lumberjack Song" over the arena public address systems before taking the stage to perform.

In "Truck Drivin' Song" by Weird Al Yankovic a similar theme has a deep voiced singer starting to sing about very masculine activities juxtaposed with applying make-up and wearing high heeled shoes.

The French rock band Underzut pays homage to the Monty Python with two songs including "Lumberjack" (and also "Bicycle Repairman") on the album "Bubbles in my blood".