"Well the weather for the whole area
Will continue much the same as the past few days
Temperatures seventeen centigrade, that's forty-nine Fahrenheit
Winds will freshen later tonight to south-west force six or seven
And there will be showers sometimes heavy in many
Oh sod it, I didn't wanna do this
I don't wanna be a weather forecaster
I don't wanna rabbit on all day about sunny periods
And patches of rain spritting from the west
I wanted to be
A lumberjack!
Leaping from tree to tree
As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia
The giant redwood
The larch
The fir
The mighty Scots pine
The lofty flowering cherry
The plucky little aspen
The limping Roo tree of Nigeria
The towering Wattle of Aldershot
The Maidenhead Weeping Water Plant
The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak
The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip
The Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni
The Epigillus
The Barter Hughius Greenus
With my best buddy by my side
We'd sing, sing, sing"

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day

He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavatory
On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea

He cuts down trees, he eat his lunch
He goes to the lavatory
On Wednesdays he goes shopping and has buttered scones for tea

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day

I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I like to press wild flowers
I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars

He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps
He likes to press wild flowers
He puts on women's clothing and hangs around in bars

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day

I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa

He cuts down trees, he wears high heels?
Suspendies and a bra?

He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day

He's a lumberjack and he's OK
Sleeps all night and he works all day


Lyrics submitted by drbrain, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Lumberjack Song Lyrics as written by Michael Edward Palin Terry Jones

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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The Lumberjack Song song meanings
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    General Comment

    This song is about the changing of society's values towards acceptance of transvestites. As the song so elegantly illustrates, we are almost to the point of finally accepting those whose style is a little different, but not quite. The background singers, Canadian mounties to represent the common man, make it through two and a half verses before faltering and stopping the song. Though they do come back and finish out the chorus (more a gesture of kindness rather than one of acceptance), it is their reluctance to accept the narrator's eccentricities that makes this song one of the most relevant, powerful, and moving depictions of life as a transvestite that this world has ever seen.

    Ah, who am I kidding. It's just Monty Python at their goofy best. Great song.

    asutboneon September 24, 2002   Link

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