coffee stirred by thumb:Tales of the Frozen Logger

Subject: frozen logger
From:
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 09:16 AM

Looking for the lyrics for "The Frozen Logger"

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From: rosebrook
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 09:24 AM

Hi,

If you search the database for [frozen logger], you would find it.

THE FROZEN LOGGER (DT Version)
(James Stevens)

As I sat down one evening within a small cafe,
A forty year old waitress to me these words did say:

"I see that you are a logger, and not just a common bum,
'Cause nobody but a logger stirs his coffee with is thumb.

My lover was a logger, there's none like him today;
If you'd pour whiskey on it he could eat a bale of hay

He never shaved his whiskers from off of his horny hide;
He'd just drive them in with a hammer and bite them off inside.

My lover came to see me upon one freezing day;
He held me in his fond embrace which broke three vertebrae.

He kissed me when we parted, so hard that he broke my jaw;
I could not speak to tell him he'd forgot his mackinaw.

I saw my lover leaving, sauntering through the snow,
Going gaily homeward at forty-eight below.

The weather it tried to freeze him, it tried its level best;
At a hundred degrees below zero, he buttoned up his vest.

It froze clean through to China, it froze to the stars above;
At a thousand degrees below zero, it froze my logger love.

They tried in vain to thaw him, and would you believe me, sir
They made him into axeblades, to chop the Douglas fir.

And so I lost my lover, and to this cafe I come,
And here I wait till someone stirs his coffee with his thumb."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Words and music by James Stevens
@work @west @love @logger
filename[ FROZLOGR
TUNE FILE: FROZLOGR
CLICK TO PLAY
DC

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Words and music by James Stevens

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From:
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 09:44 AM

I am not sure but I believe the last line THey tried in vain to thaw hin and if you believe me sir Etc Etc. first appeared among members of IOCA [Intercollegiate Outing Club Association] I the 1950's [the good years] I only heard Outing clubbers sing it.

Allan S..

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From: john
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 01:55 PM

Are you saying that the line about"they tried in vain etc" was not in the original version?

I also saw a line " The snow it tried to freeze him It tried to do him dirt At 80 degrees below zero he buttoned up his shirt" Where do you suppose that came from?

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 09:06 PM

According to an old Sing Out, Ernie Marrs added the verse

And when he went out hunting,
He never fired a shell
He'd just pull off his logging boots
And killed them with the smell

which goes, of course, right after
"He never shaved the whiskers..."

PETE

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From: Einnor
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 01:14 AM

Ha ha. I could tell you all kinds of wild stories about those wild loggers of the frozen north cause I felled timber for 20 plus years and those song lyrics are all true.

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From: Allan S.
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 02:23 PM

JOhn- I,m not sure where that verse came from It does appear in the 1955 ed. of Song Fest -By Dick Best But I heard it in 1951 at the U- Connceticut Outing Club. At that time noone else sang that last verse. Actually I don't know who wrote the song. Any Ideas?? Folk Process???? Allan.S

Subject: RE: frozen logger
From: lohouse8
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 10:08 PM

Here's another verse. Used to use it to end the song sometimes. Can't remember where I picked it up.

"They found him in the morning, a poor sad frozen ghost,
And they tied him up in the stable, as a horse's hitching post.
Some day some hot horse will find him, and back to me he'll come.
And, I will proudly watch him, stir his coffee with his thumb."

Subject: coffee stirred by thumb, song
From: Rincon Roy
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 09:49 PM

Heard terrific (& goofy) song on radio this weekend. I want to know who sings it & where I can I track down a recording. The lyric goes thusly: Seems there's this waitress in a small town who notices a customer stirring his coffee with his thumb, just like her late love, a lumberjack, did. The song is full of crazy images of her dearly departed. Example, he didn't shave his beard, but just pounded the whiskers back into his face with a hammer & chewed the ends off on the inside instead. (if the author of this lyric just happens to be reading this: you are one funny person!)

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Amergin
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 09:52 PM

That sounds like the Frozen Logger. The lyrics are in the DT I believe.....

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Midchuck
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 09:55 PM

Damn. You beat me because I went into the DT to check, first. They're there. Proper title is The Frozen Logger.

Peter

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 10:02 PM

WEll of course, NO ONE but a logger stirs coffee with his thumb!

Spaw

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Haruo
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 10:05 PM

The Esperanto version by Marta Evans, not the most model Esperanto but fun to sing, is in Kantfesto I and will probably sooner or later appear on my website. Sooner if anyone evinces interest. Later otherwise.

Liland

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: John of the Hill
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 10:09 PM

This is one of the songs my mother used to sing to us while she ironed clothes. The Devil and The Farmer's Wife was another. Never dreamed at the time that I was being immersed into the folkstream, or that 22 years after her death I would hear her voice as clearly as ever. John

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 10:09 PM

The "Frozen Logger" was written by the late Jim Stevens, of Aberdeen Wa. I had the pleasure of meeting him in 1959. As a youngster of 12, he went into the Northwest woods as a cooks helper in the logging camps. He wrote the "Frozen Logger" and "THE PAUL BUNYON TALES" based on stories he heard in the bunkhouse at night. He was a buddy of the late Ivar Haglund, famous Seattle restaurant owner, Iver's Acres of Clams. Jim wrote the material for the "Keep Washington Green Campaign" that Ivar sang on Seattle radio in the late forties and early fifties. By the way, his original writing differs somewhat from the populiar recorded and written versions.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Haruo
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 10:12 PM

Deckman, do you know where the original Jim Stevens version can be seen or heard?

Liland

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: lesblank
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 10:14 PM

The best version of this ditty that I've heard is done by Steve Gillette and his wife Cindy Mangsten on their "Live in Concert at The Arc" CD on Compass Rose Music.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Stewart
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 11:33 PM

I probably shouldn't mention this, but there is a parody called The Frozen Jogger that I've heard snatches of, but not the whole thing. I think it came out of Vancouver. Anybody know it? Otherwise, the original I've known for a long time and it is still a favorite.

Cheers,

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:09 AM

Midchuck is too modest. "Frozen Logger" is on one of the "Woodchucks' Revenge" CDs. Suggest you buy them all to be sure to get the right one.

Note to Woodchucks: I am expecting a commission on this!

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:22 AM

Have any of the other aging folkies noticed the change of perspective over the years when considering the phrase, "40 year old waitress"? I started singing this when I was about eighteen, and she sounded amusingly mature at the time.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:23 AM

Good point.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: GUEST,Fred Burns
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:32 AM

The lyrics and chords can be found in Sing Out's book, Rise Up Singing, and also with music in Alan Lomax's Folk Songs of North America.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 02:39 AM

Jim Stevens did NOT write the phrase "fourty year old waitress." He wrote this line as,"a six foot seven waitress" The most accurate, both in words and spirit, version was recorded by Walt Robertson. I'll dig out his recording later, but it was recorded by Moses Asch of Folkways, and is available through the Smithsonian. This song is quite an anthem at song circles over here on the Pacific Northwest. CHEERS, Bob Nelson

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 06:29 AM

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 06:33 AM

Oops- strange computer!

What I meant to say was:

Great song, what's a mackinaw? (And a 6'7" waitress seems more relevant than her age).

Noreen

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From:
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 07:29 AM

I always thought "40 year old waitress" was a bit weak compared to the rest of the song. I like "6'7" better, although I have never heard it sung that way.

Somewhere I have a tape of an Australian Folk singer singing it, but what with moving,......

Murray

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Chris/Darwin
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 07:44 AM

Always sang "six foot seven inch waitress" since I got interested in folk music rather a long time ago.

Problem is - Australia metricated 30 years ago, and I haven't been able to think up a way of singing "two thousand and seven millimetres waitress", or perhaps "two hundred centimetre waitress", or variations thereof. With all its advantages, the metric system does not allow much for colloquial expressions - "missed by 1.62 kilometres", "give him 25 point 4 millimetres, and he takes nine hundred and fourteen", etc.

ChrisP

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 08:15 AM

A "mackinaw" is a raincoat.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 08:42 AM

Thanks, Deckman- like a macintosh? )What an odd word that looks!)

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: kendall
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 08:54 AM

In Maine, a Mackinaw is a heavy woolen coat. I first heard this one in the 40's by Buryl Ives. Been singing it ever since, but never recorded it.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Midchuck
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 09:09 AM

When bigchuck sings it, I have a habit of interjecting "just a kid" or "jailbait" after "a 40 year old waitress."

Peter.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 09:26 AM

Somewhere in one of my many storage boxes, I had a reel to reel tape of a T.V. show we did on Channell 9 in 1959. This show featured Jim Stevens and Ivar Haglund trading stories of these songs that Jim wrote, with Ivar singing the songs. Jim died about 5 years after that show. I was pleased to give Ivar a copy of that recording about 20 years ago, he was very pleased to receive it. Someday I'll make a transcript of the tape, and hopefully make copies available to all. These songs are our heritage, and must be shared and preserved. CHEERS, Bob Nelson. my e-mail is [e-mail]

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 11:22 AM

I first heard this song sung by Fred Holstein in chicago, but to my knowledge he never recorded it.

"40 year old waitress" I always thought was a softer version of the more common "over 40 waitress." I too like 6' 7" waitress mch better.

Living here in the PNW, with roots in Maine, I like this song a lot, even if the lyrics make it a guy song.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: BlueJay
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:08 PM

SINSULL- Right on- credit where it's due! Woodchucks' Revenge- Fill One Room, includes the only audio version of The Frozen Logger that I have. The entire CD is Great, especially this song, and the title track, and the hilarious "Boxers and Socks", (In my socks, in my socks, in my socks...with a gun. Sound familiar?) Thanks all, BlueJay

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Midchuck
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:26 PM

None of us have paid any money for any post on this thread!

Thanks, tho'

P.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Jacob B
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:38 PM

I've heard Faith Petric sing a version (at Fox Hollow, about 20 years ago) in which the customer replies to the waitress, telling her about the superhuman lover he once had and how he lost her. He then proposes to the waitress.

Jacob

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:42 PM

I really like your "Boxers and Shorts" very clever!

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 11:39 PM

I remember that one of the songs that Jim Stevens wrote, and Ivar Haglund sang, was "The Starving Stump Rancher." In the Northwest here, when settlers started clearing land for their cabins, they usually cut the trees down about head high. It took a lot of work, and several years, to pull the stumps from the ground with a team of horses, etc. As a result, many of the early settler homesteads looked like they were raising "stumps", instead of the gardens, and corrals, etc.CHEERS

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Sourdough
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 03:03 AM

Deckman: I don't know whether you are familiar with the phrase "dead media" but reel to reel video tape is one. When I first started in broadcasting, RtR was still in use and some of my first shows only exist in that format. I don't have any really easy way to play them. The equipment that is needed has long been relegated, in most cases, to the junk heap. There are however a few people in the major cities of the US who specialize in playback, transfer and re-recording of dead media. A local station would be able to help. I would suggest that you ask first at Channel 9 in Seattle where I think you said this program was originally taped. Because of the content and the people involved, they might be interested enough to want a playable copy for their own archive thereby stunning two birds with a single reel.

If you decide to go the Channel 9 route and would like some help, send me a personal message and let me see if I can find someone at CH 9 who can help in saving this little bit of musical history.

I hope you will try to save this before it is too late. Tape is not a good indefinite storage medium. Ideally, videotape should be stored in a cool (60 degree), dry (30-50% humidity), envronment, always on edge, not on its side. Otherwise it "sheds" the iron oxide that carries the image and curles on the edges making it unplayable.

If you really want to save it indefinitely without losing quality, the saving should be done digitally. That way it can be copiesd onto new media as long as digital transfer is available and that looks to be for a while!

Sourdough

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Don Firth
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 04:55 PM

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Don Firth
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 04:58 PM

Oops! Sorry about that. Need to write something before unleasing the mouse. . . .

I think the television show that Bob (Deckman) Nelson is referring to (Howdy, Bob!) was "Ballads and Books" on KCTS Channel 9, a series of six live half-hour shows subsidized by the Seattle Public Library, that Patti McLaughlin and I did in early 1959.

This was in the days before videotape. One station in Seattle, KING-TV, had a videotape machine -- a $50,000 contraption as big as a desk, with tape reels the size of 35-mm movie film. Before the days of PBS and pledge breaks, Channel 9 couldn't afford one. This was why we had to do the shows live. Doing live television has a very strange effect on the bladder. During the half-hour before we went on the air, I had to make a half-dozen trips to the men's room. It was pure terror. The show went like clockwork, which was fortunate, because -- although people told me I seemed cool and self-possessed, I was practically comatose with fear. Patti, on the other hand, was cool as self-possessed . . . I think. But by the second show, we both felt like old pros.

In the fourth or fifth show, when we were featuring Pacific Northwest songs, we were really fortunate to get James Stevens and Ivar Haglund as guests. They sort of took over the show, but that was fine with us -- two excellent raconteurs trying to outdo each other made for an informative and entertaining half-hour. I got a chance to sing The Frozen Logger with Jim Stevens right there, which was a kick. I sang it the way I usually did -- with a Swedish accent. Stevens told me after the show that he thought it was hilarious, which made me feel pretty good.

He also said that the tune he used was a slight variation of the tune of "an obscene sea ballad." I'm pretty sure I have since recognized it. If I'm not mistaken, it's pretty darned close to the tune of Frigging in the Rigging.

As far as I know, Bob has the only existing audiotapes of the "Ballads and Books" shows, taped off the air. I think Sourdough has a mighty pow'ful suggestion there. Once the nickels stack up high enough, I plan to get my computer equipped with CD-RW drive and burn my old reel-to-reel tapes onto CDs. All those hoots and songfests and songs and singers . . . that stuff is a treasure trove!

Those were the days, my friend!

Don Firth

P. S. to Stewart: I'm pretty sure the parody, The Frozen Jogger came from the fertile but gloriously warped mind of the late and sorely missed John Dwyer. John Dwyer lived in Marysville, WA, about forty-five minutes north of Seattle, and died in late 1997. See Sing Out!, Vol. 42, No. 4, Last Chorus column, page 29. John was dedicated to learning and singing traditional songs and ballads, but his sense of humor was such that he couldn't resist writing parodies and other outrageous stuff. It's apparent Vancouver origin is easily explained by that fact that John's little red Geo Metro was constantly zipping up and down Interstate 5 to attend Song Circles in Vancouver, B. C. and Portland, Oregon, and all points between and around. I've heard John sing The Frozen Jogger, and it's pretty typical of the parodies he wrote. -- D. F.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 05:49 PM

Great comments Don. Something about straight from the horses mouth comes to mind, but I won't mention it. Just to remind you, I have 5 boxes of my own reel to reels, 3 boxes of Pattis, and 3 boxes of Walt Robersons tapes. They are all in good condition, as is my Roberts machine. Also, I suspect that any number of Victoria and Vancouver mudcatters could jump in here and contribute the "Frozen Jogger." I suspect that John Dwyer did not write it, but he sure loved it.

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Don Firth
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 07:15 PM

(I'm beginning to feel like an archeological dig site. Am I really getting that old?)

I've heard John Dwyer sing The Frozen Jogger, but I wasn't absolutely sure he wrote it. One I am sure he wrote (well, pretty sure) is the one about the Bremerton ferry running aground in the fog. Seems there was a romantic cow involved, as I recall. If some Vancouver, Victoria, Everett, Seattle, or Timbuctoo singer knows it, I would be powerfully grateful to get my hands on the words and tune.

Bob, I think between the two of us, we have at least forty-eleven miles of tape containing some pretty amazing stuff. And some amazing people. Tape does deteriorate (print-through, oxide flaking off, and general decay), so it's probably a pretty good idea if we see about getting this stuff digitized. CDs are easier to handle, anyway.

Let's talk about it sometime soon.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 10:03 PM

Don, the song you request is called "Notice To Mariners," written by John Dwyer. Linda Allen published it in her book "Washington Songs and Lore", published by Melior Publications, Spokane. I'll be sure to get it to you soon. And yes, you're very right. John dwyer is sorely missed. From one old antique singer to another. deckman ... funny though, I don't FEEL old, but I sure notice a lot of cub scouts following me to earn merit badges helping me at street corners!

Subject: Lyr Add: NOTICE TO MARINERS (John Dwyer) ^^
From: Stewart
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 11:26 PM

Yes, John Dwyer was certainly one of a kind, and sorely missed. I only knew him for about a year, and wish I had gotten to know him better before his untimely departure. Anyway here is his song "Notice to Mariners". Perhaps I or someone should start a new thread on John Dwyer songs.

NOTICE TO MARINERS -- John Dwyer, 1974

Come all you Northwest sailors, who cruise on Puget Sound,
And listen to my story, for well it will astound;
'Tis of a ferry captain, who ventured forth one day,
And of the fate befell him, as he sailed on the bay.

The ferry left Seattle, 'twas on a foggy day,
The captain had no worries, for well he knew the way;
He headed 'cross the water, where finny things abound,
And set his course for Bremerton, across famed Puget Sound.

He left Seattle Harbor, and passed Duwamish Head,
Past Alki on the port side, he westerly did head;
And now 'twas open water, across to Orchard Point,
Through fog as thick as chowder, the ferry's bow did point.

Now all good skippers have a trick, who sail these waters 'round,
And when the fog is thickest, 'tis then they steer by sound;
Full several times a minute, their whistle loud they blow,
And by the echo bouncing, when land is close they know.

The ferry neared Rich Passage. a place of rocks and shoals,
And narrow as an hourglass, as past Point White she goes,
The captain slowed the ferry, and not to run aground,
He blew upon his whistle, and listened for the sound.

Now, a farmer on Point Glover, across the neck from White,
Had tied his cow that foggy morn, upon lush grass to bite;
So several times a minute, the ferry's whistle blew,
And as the captain listened, the echo came back "Moo!"

The captain turned the vessel, still steering by the sound,
And guided by that silly cow, the ferry ran aground;
So all you Northwest sailors, give listen to me now,
And when you cruise on Puget Sound, don't navigate by cow!

Cheers, S. in Seattle ^^

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Deckman
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 11:39 PM

That's a very interesting idea ... start a thread about John Dwyer. The tales and songs that can be told would be numerous. His friends in the Seattle and Vancouver areas are legion. His daughter, Maggie, in Texas is very active in folk music archiving. CHEERS, Bob Nelson (deckman)

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 03:03 AM

Bob or Stewart, do you have a tune for "Notice to Mariners"?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Stewart
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 12:08 PM

Here's the tune for "Notice to Mariners" CLICK HERE.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 05:46 PM

Stewart --

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Words and tune! I cut and pasted the words into a file, which I have done a lot since I discovered DigiTrad a few years ago. Recently I got a copy of NoteWorthy Composer, discovered that I could download MIDI files, suck them into NWC which converts them to a format it can read. Then they can be displayed as written music, played on the computer, and printed out as sheet music.

The resources available to folk music enthusiasts these days are bloody miraculous!

Again, Thank you!

Don Firth

P. S: By the way, Stewart, since you seemed to be from the Seattle area, have we ever met?

Subject: RE: coffee stirred by thumb
From: GUEST,Maggie Dwyer
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 11:58 PM

Don,

"Notice To Mariners" was recorded, with one small textual change, by the Shifty Sailors, a collection of singers on Whidbey Island. I was contacted by Vern Olsen for permission to record, and I suggested that he note in the liner notes that they had adapted the song to fit Admrialty Inlet near their Whidbey Island location. The name mentioned in the credits (Maggie "Lewis") is a mistake, but the permission was genuine. I know Dad would have preferred the words to stay as written, but music and songs are always being adapted to singers' needs, that's part of the folk process, and I was glad to know that this group wanted to use his song.

The CD is _Heave Ho, My Lads!_ and was performed live in Coupeville, Washington. Production values are not perfect, with that many people and the acoustics those of a coffee shop, but it is a nice array of songs recorded in conjunction with the Island County Historical Society. The Shifty Sailors can be reached via P.O. Box 53, Greenbank, WA 98253

--Maggie