The canals and the bridges, the embankments and cuts

They blasted and dug with their sweat and their guts

They never drank water but whiskey by pints

And the shanty towns rang with their songs and their fights



Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong

The morning is here and there's work to be done

Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite

For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight

For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight



They died in their hundreds, with no sign to mark where

Save the brass in the pocket of the entrepreneur

By landslide and rockblast they got buried so deep

That in death if not life they'll have peace while they sleep



Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong

The morning is here and there's work to be done

Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite

For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight

For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight



Their mark on this land is still seen and still laid

The way for a commerce where vast fortunes were made

The supply of an Empire where the sun never set

Which is now deep in darkness but the railway's there yet



Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong

The morning is here and there's work to be done

Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite

For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight

For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight



(P. Gaston