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You can tell a Nova Scotian by the fragrance of the ocean,
For they always wear the perfume of the North Atlantic spray;
But if you can't seem to smell 'em, there's another way to tell 'em,
For you'll always know a Bluenose by his diet right away!
What do we eat? We eat...
Fish bones, herrin', oysters when we're daring.
And we often take a bake of hake 'cause that's a dandy dish!
To make chowder fit for dolphins, throw in everything but sculpins,
And you ain't a Nova Scotian if you don't like fish!
What we eats, until we're bustin', most Albertans find disgustin'.
For it seems salt cod's upsettin' to that dainty western tongue;
And with faces hard and stony, they say "Herrin's too durn boney,"
But there's nothing for dissolving bones like Nova Scotian rum.
And so we eat:
Cod cheeks, cod tongues, even though they're odd tongues,
Fish sticks and Digby chicks as dainty as you wish;
We eat flat fish, like the flounder, and some others that are rounder,
And you ain't a Nova Scotian if you don't like fish!
You won't find no haddock fillets in them Manitoba skillets,
And away out in Saskatchewan they don't know fish from beets;
Way out in Red River Valley they can't tell scallops from tomally,
And you'll get no clams or salmon with your dandelion treats.
But us, we eat:
Finnan haddie, good for lass or laddie,
And a smoked eel will make you feel like dancin' ish a tish;
We cook up salimugundi twenty seven ways from Sunday,
And you ain't a Nova Scotian if you don't like fish!
Now lest there be a mix-up, there's just one thing I should fix up,
For there's some that can't tell us from Newfoundlanders tried and true;
We eat hake and cod and kippers, but we don't eat seal flippers,
And that's how you tell the difference, 'cause the Newfoundlanders do!
We just eat:
Mackerel, pollock, they never give you colic,
If you wash down your tuna with a little drink of swish;
We love a mess of shad roe, cod and gaspereau,
And you ain't a Nova Scotian (by the holy land o' Goshen),
And you've never seen the ocean, if you don't like fish!
The lyrics above are from the singing of Tom Goux and Jacek Sulanowski.
Note: Jim Bennet is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, best known for his career as a CBC radio and television personality. His thirteen years as co-host of the network's popular Singalong Jubilee program (1961-1973) provided the showcase for his talent both as a performer and author/composer of some of Eastern Canada's best-loved humorous songs. This song was sung on the show by Mr. Bennet and the Jubilee Singers more than once. He has also compiled two books, Jim Bennet's Verse: a compendium in Rhyme and Metre, wit, humor, satire, parody, plaint, impertinence, stuff and nonsence, etc. (Petheric Press, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1979) and Jim Bennet Rhymes Again, Poetry & Prose (Formac Publishing Company Limited, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1989). In recent years, Jim has been the senior consultant at Bennet Communications Ltd., in Halifax.
~ Courtesy: Robert V. Smith, 2008.
The YouTube video above features a live performance by Jerry Bryant at the 2007 Chicago Maritime Festival, February 24, 2007, at the Chicago History Museum.
