Eagalic Music

The Crofton Mill

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(written by Ted (Baba Farid) Katrensky, © ℗ Sunram Music/Socan August 1991)

Down at the beach in the heat of day
There to watch the children play
It’s natural to hear them say
The water is fine

Come on in, let’s go for a swim
There goes Jim, let’s follow him
Come on Dad, won’t you come in
Cause the water is fine

I tell them, when you’re fishin’ here
The water ain’t so clear
Cause the pulp & paper mill is near
and the fishing is dying

People came here for years and years
To harvest their clams and their oysters here
But the price they pay these days is dear
Cause the water’s not fine

Chorus:
And if you can’t see the signs
That something is ill
Just take a deep breath, you can be sure you will
You can’t ignore that smell that kills
It’s the Crofton Mill

Well the Great Blue Heron nested here
But these days he’s all but disappeared
Cause the ecosystem’s toxin smeared
And the water ain’t fine

The newspapers said they moved away
But the faithfull herons in the mudflats stay
And they dine on the bullheads and die that way
Cause the water ain’t fine

Well I lived here nearly 20 years now
And I think of this as home somehow
And so when my kids go swimmin’ I allow that
The water is fine

But as I look out there across the bay
I can smell that smell so strong today
I want to drag my kids in from their play
Cause the water’s not fine

Chorus

For reference see:

www.croftonair.org/

In 2004 Neil Young, Randy Bachman and the Barenaked Ladies put on a concert in Duncan on Vancouver Island to protest the burning of alternate fuels at the mill (about 6 miles from the downtown area), that may have been even more toxic than the emissions from the mill.

There was an old saying on the island that when tourists came to the area and commented “What’s that smell?” refering to the foul odors emerging from the smokestacks at the mill, the answer was: Money!

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