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Version 2 Version 3 Version 5
            [Chorus]
D                A
Ah, for just one time
        G
I would take the Northwest Passage
   Bm               A
To find the hand of Franklin
         Em               G
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
D                A
Tracing one warm line
          G
Through a land so wild and savage
    D                A              D
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 1]
G                 D
Westward from the Davis Strait
     A                   Em
'Tis there 'twas said to lie
    G                D
The sea route to the Orient
    A             D
For which so many died
G                D
Seeking gold and glory,
        A                 Em
Leaving weathered, broken bones
      G              A
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of
Em
stones
[Chorus]
D                A
Ah, for just one time
        G
I would take the Northwest Passage
   Bm               A
To find the hand of Franklin
         Em               G
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
D                A
Tracing one warm line
          G
Through a land so wild and savage
    D                A              D
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 2]
G                    D
Three centuries thereafter
       A           Em
I take passage overland
       G                  D
In the footsteps of brave Kelso
           A               D
Where his "sea of flowers" began
  G                    D
Watching cities rise before me
       A             Em
Then behind me sink again
     G           D
This tardiest explorer
        A               Em
Driving hard across the plain
[Chorus]
D                A
Ah, for just one time
        G
I would take the Northwest Passage
   Bm               A
To find the hand of Franklin
         Em               G
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        D        A
Tracing one warm line
          G
Through a land so wild and savage
    Bm               A              D
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 3]
G                      D
And through the night, behind the wheel
    A                Em
The mileage clicking west
  G             D
I think upon Mackenzie,
       A               D
David Thompson and the rest
    G                    D
Who cracked the mountain ramparts
        A               Em
And did show a path for me
   G                A             Em
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea
[Chorus]
D                A
Ah, for just one time
        G
I would take the Northwest Passage
   Bm               A
To find the hand of Franklin
         Em               G
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        D        A
Tracing one warm line
          G
Through a land so wild and savage
    D                A              D
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
[Verse 4]
G                D
How then am I so different
     A                          Em
From the first men through this way?
     G                      D
Like them, I left a settled life
  A            D
I threw it all away
   G                D
To seek a Northwest Passage
       A            Em
At the call of many men
   G                  A
To find there but the road back home
Em
again
[Chorus]
D                A
Ah, for just one time
        G
I would take the Northwest Passage
   Bm               A
To find the hand of Franklin
         Em               G
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        D        A
Tracing one warm line
          G
Through a land so wild and savage
    D                A              D
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea 
        
                