Urban summers seem so hot
That you'll need to find a spot
To escape (no use stewin'),
Where it's cool for canoein'.
Paddle straight and go faster
When the J-stroke you'll master.
Once you learn what you're doin'
Seek your spirit's renewin'.

A Canadian's someone who
Can make love in a canoe.
He knows lots of good strokes
And can thwart ogling folks.
Starting foreplay, he'll untether,
He'll move sideways with the feather;
He'll avert curious eyes
With a series of pries.

CHORUS: Oh, lost country, now I'm paddlin' back
To those thousands of lakes,
That beau paysage I've lacked*.
Oh Quebec girl come with me,
Oh, ma belle, ma fleur de lis,
Northern vision in our mind,
That Pierre Berton defined.

Now at heart our Rose did hate
Tryin' to make the boat go straight.
Paddlin' lessons were a battle
'Til some tricks she learned (don't tattle!)
In the stern she could discern
That instructors might well yearn
To teach Trudeau's stroke, fiddle-faddle
While she straddled their paddle.

Repeat CHORUS

* for those who might have missed the pun, the French word for 'lake' is lac.