Kaiser Wilhelm Drew the Line


© David Watts

Note: The indented opening two lines/couplets of Verses 3, 4 and 6 are in minor mode.

 

When our western boundary was fixed at Forty-Nine

It cut Point Roberts but Vancouver Island stretched the line

The islands of the Gulf were left to learn their fate (till)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(When Britain…)

Brit and Yankee agents met in Washington, D.C.

To barter off our fishing rights and there they could agree

The Gulf remained a mystery they left to arbitrate (till)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(He was born.on board…)

The Hudson’s Bay on Bellvue–what the Yankees called “San Juan”–

Built a post, pastured sheep and tried to settle down

It said the Yanks were “squatters” until a later date (when)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(Yankee Doodle)

Yankee troops took up position, British warships came in close

In the battle over Griffin’s Pig off an island on the coast

Then the U.S. Civil War began–the islands had to wait (till)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(Gone with the Wind)

The Kaiser ruled in ‘72, the British troops backed off

Within a month or more, all was quiet on the Gulf

Bellevue Island was awarded to the Evergreen new State (when)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(tuba repeats last line)

Forty-five years later the peace all came undone

And those the Kaiser settled went to war against his son

Berlin Ontario changed its name in a wave of fear and hate (but)

The Kaiser’s line still held out West across the Georgia Strait.

(The Great Escape)

Now islanders on both sides today are a quiet lot

They spin their wool, cut their glass and fire only pot(s)

But a pie for a next-isle neighbour is a Customs bill of freight (since)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(“I’m a laid back Islander doin’ fine, since Kaiser Wiilhelm drew the line.”

Now if you take your holidays on Pender or on Mayne

Then go to Friday Harbour, you’ve crossed the Line again

That undefended border our people(s) celebrate (since)

Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.

(The Tangle of the Isles)

How do you find an influence so very far away

Where Flugelhorn and Luftwaffe have never seen the day?

But the line between the isles of the Gulf and of San Juan

Is a toast to Wilhelm next time you feast on a Kaiser bun.

(Ach, du lieber Augustin)

Canadians are go-betweens whevere there’s a fuss

We try to do for others what the Kaiser did for us

We steer around the hotheads and try to mediate

Like Kaiser Wilhelm did for us across the Georgia Strait. (when)

[Kaiser Wilhelm drew the line across the Georgia Strait.]

(Deutches uber alles/O Canada)