Lännen lokari [Western Logger] by Hiski Salomaa (performed by Laulu Aika)

Written by Hiski Salomaa, "Lännen lokari" describes the romantic pursuits of a western logger. Of course, while he sings of the benefits of having a woman in every town, we are also privy to the uncertainty of work and the itinerant lifestyle that many loggers lived.

This version is performed by Laulu Aika out of St. Paul, Minnesota. You can find more of their work here: https://www.lauluaika.com/
Ralph Tuttila, mandolin, vocals
Lotta Kiuru-Ribar, violin
Johanna Lorbach, violin
Eric Platt, mandolin
Tamara Baker, triangle, tambourine
Dan Kiuru-Ribar, guitar
Jaana Tuttila, bass

On February 27, 2021, Songs of the Finnish Migration with Laulu Aika was the first event in the 2021 FinnFest music series and featured a discussion with Marcus Cederström and Tom DuBois from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as well as a musical performance by Laulu Aika. Check out the performance with four additional songs:    • Songs of the Finnish Migration with L...  

If you're looking to sing at home with English lyrics, check out the translation of "Western Logger" or "Logger of the West" on pp. 180–181 in "Songs of the Finnish Migration: A Bilingual Anthology," available from University of Wisconsin Press: https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5661.htm
I’m a logger from the timber camps of the West,
And I’ve rambled nigh all over!
I have been out to Butte and L.A. to boot,
Red Lodge and Miami, sir.
I have been on the sea and the continents,
And the peaks up in Alaska!
And just ev’ry place I go the wild girls all know
The loggers of the West.


Now a logger is a guy who’ll take him a gal,
Even if she is somebody else’s.
Never fear, not a tear will he shed at all,
When he leaves those Eastern lasses.
‘Cause a Butte gal is fine, L.A. stars they shine,
what a snow bird in Alaska!
and they whisper one and all, “Have you seen this fall,
that rambler of the West?”


Where’s a Mexicali gal, Honolulu pearl,
Or a pretty Filipina,
There this logger has been with them one and all,
Better than any city slicker.
Where I cast my eye, my heart beats high,
What beauties head to toe!
If their singing you heard, you would think it a bird,
This logger’s heart does know.


Now Frisco I’ve seen, Oregon I have been,
Where there’s summer and mountains cold.
To Dakota I’ve come, at Palm Beach I’ve swum,
Greeting friends both young and old.
When you build your house, settle ‘neath the pine,
That day for joy you’ll shout.
Though the storms of life can cause us strife,
Freedom finally does win out.

From "Songs of the Finnish Migration: A Bilingual Anthology," translated by Thomas A. Dubois and Marcus Cederström. Reprinted by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. © 2020 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.

Learn more about the project at https://folklife.wisc.edu/

Thanks to Cris Anderson from Cris Anderson Productions, Inc. and goodstory for the wonderful work. Check them out at https://www.goodstory.us/

Thanks also to Mike Rivard and Vladimir Garrido-Biagetti.