His name is johnny peckanen
He was hatched up in ahmeek
Worked the white pine copper mine
Seven days a week
When copper took a nose dive
He got his walking papers
Had to sell the family farm
Just to try to make ‘er
Chorus:
He's yoopanese, yoopanese,
A very special breed
Dago, fin, cousin jack,
German, french and swede
He grew up with the maki boys
In bumble town location
He dug the ore and cut the trees
That built this mighty nation

He moved down to milwaukee,
No call backs from the mine
They were hiring at this factory
So he went and stood in line
The boss said, “hay, we're you from?”
Johnny said, “yooperland usa"
The boss said, “go get your bucket yooper!"
"you start to work today!”
"i've always hired yoopers,"
"we get along so well"
"they're honest and dependable,"
"and always work like hell"
"they know the value of a dime,"
"and don't expect nothing free"
"you know any other yoopers,"
"tell ‘em they can work for me!"

Chorus:
We're yoopanese, yoopanese,
A very special breed
Dago, fin, cousin jack,
German, french and swede
We grew up with the maki boys
In bumble town location
We dug the ore and cut the trees
That built this mighty nation

He started up a family,
Moved back to yooperland
Got a job at houghton tech
Sweeping up the sand
He said, “living in the ole’ up"
"is the life for me”

Chorus:
I'm yoopanese, yoopanese,
Don't put a stamp on me
Irish, jewish, indian,
We're all the same you see
We have twelfth grade education's
And bachelors degrees
Rich and poor, middle class,
We're all yoopanese