Stewie,

   I just received my copy of Randolph's BLOW THE CANDLE OUT a week ago and I haven't had time to really sit down and look at it yet. I really appreciate your research and your references. I think you may have discovered a very important piece of this puzzle: "go limber, Jim, you can't go..." Ever since I first read Hearn's remark I suspected that there was a lot more to this particular tradition than we were turning up. It's like watching old WWII war movies about Marines in combat without a single cussword in the whole film! I wonder where Hearn's papers are and if there is any chance that he preserved more complete notes on his "Limber Jim". Sometimes it feels like we have little chips left from huge glaciers. I look forward to spending time with Randolph's book. I have looked rather extensively at his ROLL ME IN YOUR ARMS, and didn't come across anything that caught my attention, but I was looking for particular songs rather than phrases. It is certainly worth another look there as well. Again, thanks for this good work. - T.O.M.