The Idiot

Stan Rogers - "The Idiot"
I often take these night shift walks when the foreman's not around.
I turn my back on the cooling stacks and make for open ground.
Far out beyond the tank farm fence where the gas flare makes no sound,
I forget the stink and I always think back to that Eastern town.
I remember back six years ago, this Western life I chose.
And every day, the news would say some factory's going to close.
Well, I could have stayed to take the Dole, but I'm not one of those.
I take nothing free, and that makes me an idiot, I suppose.
So I bid farewell to the Eastern town I never more will see;
But work I must so I eat this dust and breathe refinery.
Oh I miss the green and the woods and streams and I don't like cowboy clothes;
But I like being free and that makes me an idiot I suppose.
So come all you fine young fellows who've been beaten to the ground.
This western life's no paaradise, but it's better than lying down.
Oh, the streets aren't clean, and there's nothing green, and the hills are dirty brown,
But the government Dole will rot your soul back there in your home town.
So bid farewell to the Eastern town you never more will see.
There's self-respect and a steady cheque in this refinery.
You will miss the green and the woods and streams and the dust will fill your nose.
But you'll be free, and just like me, an idiot, I suppose.

[@superimposedtab]

This song reminds me of how I feelt the first winter after we moved from central Texas to work in the oil fields of Wyoming. And here I am, 15 years later, still an idiot I suppose.....

[@Matt_from_Florida]

I hope you still have a job! Biden's doing all he can to destroy the industry.

[@boclown100]

23 years in the Oil Patch..Hard dirty work but the money was ferocious Lol

[@TheSaffronrose]

I ran this song under my breath or through my mind so very often when I was working a mind-numbing job in a corporate culture where I did not fit at all. I had taken it to get the medical and dental benefits, as well as a living wage, and I needed all those. Local Morris Dancers have a routine to this song. Stan ranted rather humourously about Morris Dance--and this is a morris-style tune--that I suppose they couldn't resist. I miss him. He's almost been dead as long as he lived.

[@redgreen31]

Corb Lund (country music artist from Alberta) uses this Stan Rogers tune for his song I Wanna Be in the Calvery.

[@roan2288]

I was wondering where I knew this tune from.

[@ImperatorTheodosius]

*Cavalry

[@Gubru]

Congrats! I often try to sing this tune while at work in the local refinery. It's quite fitting.

[@CallMeAlbie]

Thank you, Stan Rogers🇺🇸❤️🇨🇦

[@69Seanjones]

Its a beautiful song, stop fighting and enjoy the mans voice.

[@brianl890]

Stan Rogers is woven tightly into the fabric of Canada and is a part of us. We all miss him and love his music.

[@wyominglost]

Thanks for posting this! I used to work in the gas plants here in Wyoming! Reminded me Im still an idiot! LOL!

[@Phenomamommy]

Reminds me of moving back to Oklahoma, from Indiana when I got out of the service.

[@Stevonater5]

One of Stans most Under rated songs

[@pugthing]

One of my favourite Stan Rogers songs - thanks for posting

[@coolmikefromcanada]

i've moved across this country twice trying to find work that would last, this song always makes me tear up

[@wmralder]

I first discovered Stan Rogers on CBC Radio while living in Calgary. It wasn't until the company I worked for began to fail in this country and I found myself uprooted and on the road chasing places we still had contracts that I really got into his whole catalogue while working on Vancouver Island. Soon I was shipped off to Ontario and kept listening to The Idiot over and over again thinking about the irony of moving West to East to find a job. I did and 30 years later I'm settled in Ontario with absolutely no desire to move back West.

[@BritanniaPacific]

This song remains true to this day.

[@wmralder]

I first discovered Stan Rogers on CBC Radio while living in Calgary. It wasn't until the company I worked for began to fail in this country and I found myself uprooted and on the road chasing places we still had contracts that I really got into his whole catalogue while working on Vancouver Island. Soon I was shipped off to Ontario and kept listening to The Idiot over and over again thinking about the irony of moving West to East to find a job. I did and 30 years later I'm settled in Ontario with absolutely no desire to move back West.

[@seachnasaigh]

Stan was so spot-on about so many social and economic issues .... sadly, we need his perspective now more than ever.

[@Ponja__]

I absolutely love this version of the song. It feels much more 'real' than the one at the top of the results.

[@emotionalinvalid]

Don't care for folk music but some of the greatest lyrics have been written by folk singers like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, et al. good lyrics in this song love the industrial picture.

[@papanomidokoro]

I think this song captures the true pioneer spirit.

[@LedRush93]

Other than the part about the refineries, I am living this song right now. just to keep my pride I tell people I finished all the work in Nova Scotia so they sent me here to Alberta to finish theirs lol But man do I miss the east...

[@rdvqc]

This first came out on Northwest Passage, Stan's album of mostly western Canada songs. Stan's great strength is that he could seem to come from anywhere that he set his mind to. There is the western focus of this album, the Ontario focus of "From Fresh Water" and, of course, the NS focus of Fogarty's Cove

[@PoliSciCP]

We're all people just tryin to make a living man

[@Markd315]

Except the capital owners and their police state.

[@MidnightSunsetsNU]

Love this song. Often sing it at work. Such a good song to get you thru a day of eating dust and breathing welding fumes. (Sadly, born and raised west but the eastern seaboard is where i want to go)

[@alanonmain]

Good luck. I left for the west in 1981. I married and raised a family here but I still get a lump in my throat when I hear this song.

[@jmc428]

RIP Stan - a gifted songwriter and musician

[@Gubru]

Thanks for the info! Neat song.

[@MorrisManDanceMan]

brilliant thanks fore putting this on

[@brucefreeburger3596]

John Pryce: This is from the live album "Home in Halifax". Almost all the songs on that live CD have much more emotion in Stan's singing than the original studio album recordings. He was known to keep editing his songs right until the last minute, and the songs in the Halifax concert he had been performing live for a couple of years.

[@RainedOnParade]

This song reminds me of *Atlas Shrugged*

[@NotAFirefighter1]

10 formen downvoted

[@firefox5926]

7 7 more in seven years?!?! thats some pretty high staff turn over :P

[@brre8673]

How did only 7 more foremen disliked in 4 years?

[@9_nein_9]

@@brre8673 the rest couldn't figure out how to use KZbin!

[@brre8673]

Nein apparently the average foreman is 40+

[@Leutchik]

First, God took Mozart too young, then he took Stan Rogers. There must be a lesson here. Perhaps He feels that humanity should not be exposed to excessive musical genius.

[@brre8673]

Remember, Johnny Horton. REMEMBER!

[@kingyoda67]

Beautiful syncrude

[@Stevonater5]

One of Stans most Under rated song

[@A-Disappointed-Horse]

I imagine this as a sort of sequel to Finch's Complaint.

[@kriscarver-seaboyer9204]

It was actually meant the other way around.

[@orcanjus]

Dropped by to hear it again! Me, the barbershop quartetter! Haven't figured an arrangement...nah, it's great to hear. Happy Fall! WJ

[@WeTubule]

@Iwasateeninthe80s My Dad, also from Yarmouth, also headed to Ft Mac for a steady check. This was his theme song when he first moved out. Had a great life out here actually, but was thrilled to move back home as soon as he retired.

[@scrimshank1]

RightWingCon81 should take in some Stompin' Tom too. All cheerful songs about Canadians being happy medicare and all. RIP Tom.

[@HolidayHaven]

For everyone who has turned their backs on No,No,No.Yes,No!

[@HammerHeadGarage]

it steals your soul.

[@ajferet]

Thanks a bunch... Ill have to look those up

[@orcanjus]

Looks like an audiophile has a new genre of music stirred inside! As hilarious as "an Idiot I suppose comes out-I don't know, can't describe. The gist is far from FUNNY. I just love it, I'm sure not supposin'! WJ

[@tildus87]

stan is the best.....from sweden

[@alastairppcli]

I am in the Canadian military and while not fitting for each verse I find a lot of similarities in the common mans plight, I sing this alot when I am working out in Wainwright or Suffield best of luck at the refinery.

[@joecoyote42]

there have been many days I have walked into the building thinking this is it. I can't do this anymore. I can't be treated like crap. I can shovel manure at home on the farm. Then I remember this song.

[@orcanjus]

I'll say! The Pinelands area mid-state is actually national wilderness, and is being somehow steadily carved up! Yet down thru there is where Ocean Spray harvested cranberres. I kayak as well, and paddled the Wading River, which is brown! But that's a natural occurence from pine needles and other factors, not pollution. Oh, there's plenty of Dole-age around here, too, many riding round in late model SUV's And such. Get that roll of yours ready, I'll be posting some 'yak pix I hope! Peace!

[@Orthodoxcuber]

Has anyone noticed that the toon is based on i wanna be in the calvary

[@mccullochker]

Times change and what we value changes alongside. SR captured what people thought and it's obvious from the comments here (most, anyway) he still holds that power. Hey, that drew me to look him up here. But today we have the Tar Sands (a name that helps us think less about what we're destroying there) and it doesn't take Henny Penny to tell us the sky is falling... I dk from poverty, and SR's right about the dole, but getting on the exploitation bandwagon does not seem "better than lying down"!

[@CrowTR0bot]

Yeah, I only got into listening to Stan's music earlier this year and I've heard nothing but bangers from him so far, but something about these lyrics rubbed me the wrong way, especially as the destructive and dehumanizing nature of Capitalism and so-called "rugged individualism" have become more and more apparent.

[@orcanjus]

Now I'm trying to LEARN the song! Well ,Im a harmonizer anyway, and I'd love to sing this on stage or even on the ocean heading out to fish someday. Again, thanks! WJ

[@Studio731]

7 people are "one of those"

[@thewhistler9775]

I am gonna be moven out west soon from my Eastern home. I tried to hold out for the last 5 years and I can't do it anymore. I used to call my friends idiots who moved out west too, and now I am going to be an idiot too. But the good part is atleast I got 6 years of college and University first. :-)

[@primroseburrows]

The studio version is on Northwest Passage, and the live version (the one in the video) is on Home in Halifax. I like the live version best, personally.

[@fmmsavesyourmom]

I drive a car sometimes, I also walk to places or ride a bike when I can. Transportation can be fun reguardless of age.

[@fmmsavesyourmom]

YYYYEEEESSSSSSSS!

[@Rphasmid]

Ft. McMurray...great place to be from.

[@OscarLimaMike]

ha ha ha .... good sense of humor though.

[@434551]

May become even more relevant in the near future.

[@tylerrose7599]

yep

[@pipersmitty87]

2:06 the government dole will rot your soul back there in your town...True.

[@nathanstansson]

Hey Gubru, could you please message me? I have some questions regarding this video. Thanks! Nathan Rogers

[@timmym187]

Love the East

[@orcanjus]

@brent;Thanks; I'd still love about a 6-month stint of living in such a realm. I could probably pick the dialect up pretty quickly(Jamaica would be awesome as well), and sure dat Acadian Saturday Night-or several of them-as well!

[@GoblinKnightLeo]

If I might ask: I got this song off the album listed on Amazon, and the tempo is noticeably slower. Is this artificially sped up, or just a different version?

[@Gubru]

@ks610 Lol! Too true, too true.

[@bob_Loblaw_]

@kartob33 I just read his bio on wikipedia......I thought he was a maritimer but you are right!!! His parents are from Nova Scotia so I guess he is half maritimer! All i know is that living in Alberta now this song makes me miss my home . Great song!!!!!

[@alexsbikesandmotors]

He's complaining about a job in a factory with "self respect and a steady cheque"? Funny how times change, that doesn't even exist anymore.

[@GoblinKnightLeo]

Mostly because those who call for govt controls go to great lengths to ignore or hide the fact that it was usually those earlier controls that made the prices go up in the first place.

[@Hullawthere]

Hey I'm 92 sing and play guitar, but your right I'm rubbish!

[@ajferet]

Does anyone know which album this song was on? Its even better than the Mary Ellen Carter

[@mkward19]

@MahSchoolworkMusic This would be the live version from Home in Halifax, a really great album with some of stan and garnet's banter between/before songs.

[@scrimshank1]

@redgreen31 Stan wrote the words but Stan himself says he borrowed the music from an English Morris Dance tune on his CD "Home in Halifax".

[@AnomalousVikingNinja]

I just want the fish to come back. We should give the seas a sabbatical.

[@Albukhshi]

@ks610 doesn't that technically mean Newfoundland should officially be part of Alberta?

[@shaneproulx]

Give pixies636 a break, he is just saying what most maritimers that have never left their homeland are thinking.

[@Gubru]

@cheezeburgereddy You're very welcome!

[@piehole23]

@brentlovestoweld If there ever was a Maritimer, it was Stan. No one can choose where there born but they can choose who they are, where they are really from, and Stan did that definitively.

[@AnomalousVikingNinja]

*tear*

[@orcanjus]

BTW, where's Port Murray and the Gov't Dole, what's that? I surmise the rest is an Irish fellow who left the Isle and found nothing like he'd heard. The photo reminds me of what lies in my backyard in North New Jersey-Elizabeth and all. It's actually ALL we're known for. The GARDEN State? The soil's even like concrete! The Pinelands-what's left of them:(-are where a garden-like presence exists-well to the south. WJ

[@HammerHeadGarage]

whats the oldest joke in canada? the top one :)

[@TeamInferno81]

lol that a funny sound he makes a 1:26.

[@ajferet]

Hip Hip Huzzah

[@bob_Loblaw_]

@orcanjus He isn't from Ireland, his accent is typical of a lot of Maritimers and Newfoundlanders from eastern Canada.

[@fortisKID]

It's the only system in the world. There's nothing else to compare it to.

[@piehole23]

@norwesters1 You are dead right. Stan Roger's focus was Cape Breton not Newfoundland. But the song works well for anyone from eastern fishing villages (including the Gaspe) depleted by horrid federal fisheries management.

[@MidnightSunsetsNU]

@warshead I'm not a people person, when I retire I just want a little shanty on the coast to spend the rest of my days in bliss and beauty

[@GrrrIamMad]

I'm not saying it works, but it's better than any other current system.

[@gotlobster]

oil is dropping, and i'm still here, time to leave

[@pleasuretrip]

4 people were caught by the foreman on their night shift walks.

[@jkjkjkish]

if rightwingcon81 is that hostile in simple youtube comments he deserves to be an american. i am so fucking proud to be canadian and i love my country and i love stan rogers i have family in cape breton i'd love to go visit nova scotia.

[@nburdik]

And my sons soul, and my son's son's soul, and my son's son's son's soul...etc...

[@kmech3rd]

And the death of Keystone XL just put two rounds into the back of the Canadian oil patch's skull. The working man gets shanked again.

[@Steamerthesteamtrain]

i live in the west and it's better here we have trees every where

[@zyzzyva1099]

Better than MEC? Never! >:(

[@Hullawthere]

Yeh OLM you got to laugh. Watched your paper bag vid. bit more upbeat next time perhaps?

[@pixies636]

the money will never buy what we have out here. I don't know what it is we have out here. woods and streams maybe, people who like there home, canadians rather than wanna be americans, I know we didnt vote harper in

[@fortisKID]

The American system that has lead to us having 15 trillion in debt isn't all that different from your system. The system that I would support is that which America used to be, (about 100 yeas ago) before we started to "progress" towards the European socialist model that all countries now have.

[@tylerrose7599]

Well you got your wish, you wanted another great depression we got another great depression.

[@RightWingCon81]

@24Matferrari Look up Shona Holmes, a fellow Canadian, and see what she says about the system you love so much. Interesting to me how this song by Stan Rogers talks about the GOVT DOLE WILL ROT YOUR SOUL, universal healthcare is just that,gov't dole, and it's rotting your soul, your health and your pocket. Nothing is free, those taxes you pay, pay for an inefficient system.We may not be perfect, healthcare may not be free here, but when push comes to shove, money talks and our drs are the best.

[@lukuleleLOL]

boo

[@mord55]

Yup, choking on oil smoke in a blasted wasteland is what I think of when I think "freedom."

[@mord55]

***** You've got a mighty odd definition of slavery if that's what you're calling a healthy environment and a social safety net. A slave is generally forced to do something in particular for someone else's profit at no gain to himself, and not allowed to quit. I don't see how claiming your rights as a citizen makes you a slave. If everyone who ever took unemployment is a slave, the recession made slaves of us all. And whose fault was that?

[@TheOwenMajor]

rpundurs Have you seen oil workers? They are sure sharing in the profits.

[@bradsimpson8724]

rpundurs I'd suggest that you perhaps learn a thing or two about the Alberta oil industry before you spout off, because as a born-and-raised Albertan with some experience working in the oil industry, you are laughably wrong on all counts. I left the oil patch quite agreeably after a few years of work. I worked there for three years on my own accord, and was compensated with nearly a million dollars over those three years. If that's how slavery is being defined, then I think you'll find several more willing slaves in this day and age. Since I doubt that, I'll encourage you to consult Webster to learn the definition of the term.

[@mord55]

Brad Simpson Sorry, you've got me confused with The Seven Camels. I never called anyone a slave.

[@sooline3854]

Brad Simpson Roughnecks are one of the highest payed jobs in North America. I've got one of the others. I'm working as a welder in a shipyard for $35/hour, and I just started. I can get up to 50!

[@Shem47m]

Pixie636, your binary opposition between the Prairies and the Maritimes is ridiculous and value-laden.I do not say all this because my hometown is in Alberta, I say it because I have lived in the Martimes(Child),Prairies (Teen)and West Coast(Uni.)I highly suggest you go and listen to some John Wort Hannam (an Alberta based folk singer) to get a better feel for what you claim only exists in the Maritime provinces(he also has written some great Maritime themed songs such as "The Fisherman's Son").

[@GrrrIamMad]

I think we should agree with Americans like you. Why should we stick with our functioning government system that is letting our economy recover when we could use the excellent American system that is 15 trillion in debt?

[@TerranceHudson1]

Are... are people arguing about countries? On a Stan Rogers video? Disgusting.

[@GrrrIamMad]

Your gas is more expensive. USA doesnt' even make top 10 on those lists, while Canada is within top 5. Don't try to educate us about the healthcare we use our entire lives.

[@GrrrIamMad]

The American dream: Being on a waiting list to park your car-house in a parking lot. All the crap you say doesn't really bother us, because none of it is true. The point of an arguement is to get the other person to side with you, not making up lies and proclaiming yourself as the almighty champion.