Driver MacIvor

Come all ye hearty truck drivers
And listen to my tale
And you will know the reason why
I’m sitting in this jail

I drove a truck, I loved my work
I was a mighty driver
Let me introduce myself,
John Alec Hugh MacIvor

Driver MacIvor,
When will I be set free
Locked up in the jailhouse
For moving old CB
CB to them meant radio
To me it meant Cape Breton
I put the island in my truck
Now it’s twenty years I’m gettin

The company that I worked for
They shipped out of Halifax
A place up on the mainland
Where at lent they never fast

I did not want to work there
But I had to raise the cash
For the wife was eating turnip
And the kids had only hash

They called me in one morning
Said "John Alec?” I said, "That's me!"
They said, "We'll let you drive for us
If you will use CB

With CB in your truck
Then you can drive for us for sure
But be back here by next week with it
or don't come back no more!"

I walked out of the office then
Not knowing what to do
They wanted CB in my truck
Before the week was through

To put an island in the truck
Is not an easy thing
But I swore that I would do it
For the money it would bring

My family would eat well again
Potatoes, tea, and fish
So I packed Glace Bay into the van
D’Escousse and then Creignish

I thought of all the money
And all the work that I could do
So I jammed New Waterford
into the van
And then through in Mabou

They said I was a mighty driver
Well I proved it on that day
I put Whitney Pier, Whycocomagh,
And Cheticamp away,

I thought of my poor family
And I knew I could not stop
Til Inverness was in the cab
With Arichat tied on top

With CB in the truck
I went straight to the company
They told me I was crazy
But I’m not as you can see

A mounted police came up to me
And threw me in the clink
And that’s why I’m in this jail
And that’s the truth… I think