Origins: Good Fish Chowder/Jerry Mulligan (Ciardi)

Subject: Good Fish Chowder
From: DebC
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 02:11 PM

Hey all,

Just wondering about the origins of "Good Fish Chowder". Alas, I cannot find my Joe Hickerson liner notes for "A Gathering of Friends". Thanks in advance.

Deb Cowan

Subject: Track List: Joe Hickerson with a Gathering of Frie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 02:59 PM

Hmmm. Looks like Joe Hickerson With a Gathering of Friends is available on CD. I haven't heard that one yet. It sounds like a good one.
Here's the list of tracks:

1. Doney Gal
2. Blind Fiddler
3. Bring Back My Johnny to Me
4. Lather and Shave
5. Woad
6. I'm on My Way
7. Train on the Island
8. Hard Times
9. Hang on the Bell, Nellie
10. Thinnest Man
11. Dummy Line [*]
12. Good Fish Chowder
13. Devil and the School Child
14. Last Night as I Lay on My Bed
15. Rosin the Beau [*]
16. Off to Sea Once More
17. Going Down the Valley

The entry in the Digital Tradition just says it's "From the Singing of Joe Hickerson." Riggy Rackin recorded it, and all he says is that the source is Joe Hickerson. There's nothing in the Traditional Ballad Index - could it be that the sole source is Joe Hickerson?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: DebC
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 03:08 PM

Hey Joe,

Thanks. I had spent some time at Mecca (Folk Legacy) last September and saw that Joe's recordings are now on CD. I see that Joe has the same email address, so I'll just write him.

Hope you are well,
Deb Cowan

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: harpgirl
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 04:08 PM

This is one of my favorite albums. I bought it shortly after it came out and I still enjoy playing it. It would be great to meet Joe someday!

a big fan

harpy

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 05:10 PM

Hi, Deb! Howzit going?
I know that Daisy Nell and David Coffin recorded the Fish Chowder song years ago with the Mimi crew. Do you know either of them? I might be able to find David's email address; plus he very occasionally posts here.
Allison

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Joybell
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 05:32 PM

Well fancy that. We were just talking about this song. ! My True-love, Greg Hildebrand put the words of the poem "Good Clam Chowder" by John Chardi to music. He used the tune of "The Winnipeg Whore" (He always steals the best tunes)
He taught it to Joe. Joe Hickerson, an old friend of Hildebrand's, always noted where he learned the song, and I found it listed that way the other day on a folk index.
This is in contrast to Hildebrand's popular song, which he actually wrote (not just adapted) - "The Chicago Drug Bust" which Steve Goodman always credited correctly but now is credited to a Diane Hildebrand on at least two sites and credited to Goodman on several others.

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Joybell
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 05:29 PM

Thanks for fixing the link. I really should learn to do these things myself. Too much fun. Too little time.

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 07:58 PM

Hmm...I'm going to have to ask if MD-area folk/filk band Clam Chowder is aware of this song! 8-)

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: open mike
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:14 AM

i thiught this was a recipe thread
and was going to suggest it go either
in the BS section or in the mud cat
cook book! hey deb!! howse ya doin?
Laurel

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Joybell
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 01:50 AM

A correction. The poet's name was/is John Ciardi. When I asked Hildebrand he was half asleep and I negleted to ask him about the spelling. Also the poem was called "Jerry Mulligan" and from a book of Ciardi's poems called "The Man who Sang the Sillies". Hildebrand memorized the words while standing in a bookshop - he was too poor to actually buy the book - and set it to the tune of "The Winnipeg Whore" as recorded by Oscar Brand in the 1950s. He taught it to Joe Hickerson who recorded it as "Good Fish Chowder". Joy

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: BillR
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 02:36 AM

Gary,
      Asked a friend of mine who's a former member of Clam Chowder about this earlier this evening. He says, yes, they used to do it occasionally but decided that it wasn't really their style.

-Bill

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 03:06 AM

I wondered if it was John Ciardi (1916-1986). He was a fascinating man - an expert on Dante who wrote children's poetry.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 07:26 PM

Thanks Joe, An interesting link. There were so many books and so many copies of sheet-music that Hildebrand couldn't afford back in his rambling days. It's fun to track down some of them. Handy having a companion who had to learn to sight-read music and memorize words in a hurry before he was thrown out of a shop.

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Dec 03 - 11:50 AM

Thread Creep Alert!
(good fish chowder is an oxymoron.....grin)

Subject: RE: Good Fish Chowder
From: Joybell
Date: 10 Dec 03 - 04:08 PM

Is it, Sorcha, What a shame. I haven't tried it yet. Sounds so good!

Subject: Lyr Add: GOOD FISH CHOWDER (Deb Cowan)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Mar 14 - 05:39 PM

Here is the version in the Digital Tradition. I think it's my favorite song that Deb Cowan sings.

Any corrections, additions?

GOOD FISH CHOWDER
(John Ciardi)

Jerry Mulligan came to see me
Dropped his hat in the chowder pot
Put it on as he was leaving
Said my word, it's getting hot (2x)

Good fish chowder, good clam chowder
Makes you want to cry for more
Fills you up from your top to your toenails
Makes you hear the ocean's roar (2x)

Five fat shrimp behind his earlobes
Four fat squid with forty toes
Six fat oysters, eight fat scallops
Hanging from his hair and nose

He turned to me as he was leaving
Said goodbye as he shook my hand
Just as a wave ran down his shirtsleeve
Left me holding a ton of sand

Good clam chowder, good fish chowder
Has anybody seen my shoe
Nancy dropped it in the chowder
I was saving it for the stew

@food @animal @humor
filename[ FISHCHOW
TUNE FILE: FISHCHOW
CLICK TO PLAY
SOF

Subject: RE: Origins: Good Fish Chowder/Jerry Mulligan (Ciardi)
From: GUEST,Julia L
Date: 04 Sep 16 - 10:41 AM

So is this copyright free? Trying to comply with BMI goons for the sake of local venues
thanks

Subject: RE: Origins: Good Fish Chowder/Jerry Mulligan (Ciardi)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jan 23 - 07:11 PM

So, have we decided whether this song is in the public domain?

Subject: RE: Origins: Good Fish Chowder/Jerry Mulligan (Ciardi)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 24 Jan 23 - 06:27 PM

Using the Library of Congress (archive)

The verse/book appears to be still limited.

https://archive.org/details/manwhosangsillie00ciar

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Wonderful wit; perhaps my time should have been spent memorizing scripture rather than dogeral verse, but, Ciardi is a favorite. "I couldn't get much sleep last night, thinking about underware....The Pope wears underware, I hope."

Subject: RE: Origins: Good Fish Chowder/Jerry Mulligan (Ciardi)
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Jan 23 - 06:34 PM

Regarding the 5 December 2003 post:
unfortunately,
the John Ciardi link no longer works.

This is a familiar name.
I think I must know it from ... children's books??

Subject: RE: Origins: Good Fish Chowder/Jerry Mulligan (Ciardi)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 24 Jan 23 - 06:59 PM

Yes, he wrote children's verse.

He was an exceedingly prolific writer.
His book, "How Does a Poem Mean" (1959) is still a standard text in USA universities.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle
I was wrong about "UNDERWEAR" - It is from the "Beat Generation" poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.