Lyr Req: Whalen's Fate (Doerflinger version)

Subject: Lost my Doerflinger: Need 'Whalen's Fate
From: Willie-O
Date: 06 Feb 01 - 09:24 AM

I can't find my copy of Songs of Sailors and Lumbermen. There's a song in in called "Whalen's Fate" which is local to my area. It's a variant of Jam on Gerry's Rocks describing the death of James Whalen or Phelan in 1878 breaking up a logjam on the Mississippi--the one in the Ottawa Valley, not the American one.

My neighbour's looking for the lyrics for a project. Can anyone please look it up and post it?

It goes with the "Tramps and Hawkers" tune.

Willie-O

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lost my Doerflinger: Need 'Whalen's
From: MMario
Date: 06 Feb 01 - 10:02 AM

Is it this one at Barry Taylor's Canadian songbook?

Jim Whalen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lost my Doerflinger: Need 'Whalen's
From: Willie-O
Date: 06 Feb 01 - 10:24 AM

Thanks Mmario, that's pretty much it, but there are some differences between that and Doerflingers version. Also a different tune (the one that plays when you load that web page) than Tramps and Hawkers. So I'd still appreciate it if someone could post the Doerflinger lyrics.

Willie-O

Subject: Lyr Add: WHALEN'S FATE^^
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Feb 01 - 05:47 PM

Hi Willie-O. Here's what you want:

WHALEN'S FATE

Oh come all ye true bold raftsmen and friends both far and near
An accident most horrible I mean to let you hear
It was one of our young heroes, George Whalen he was called
He drowned on McLarren's jam below the upper falls

The river was in a raging force and the waters they were high
When the foreman said to Whalen, 'This jam you've got to try
You're young, you're strong and active, all dangers not to fear
For you're the man to help us now to keep those waters clear'

Said noble-hearted Whalen all to his comrades bold
'Come on, come all together, boys, and we'll do as we are told
We must obey our foreman, as nobles we should do'
Just as he spoke, the jam had broke and let poor Whalen through

There were four of them upon the jam, while three of them got saved
And noble-hearted Whalen sank far beneath the waves
To heaven he cried for mercy, 'Oh, God, look down on me!'
A soul is free from an early (earthly?) care, gone to eternity

So come all ye true bold raftsmen, come listen to Whalen's fate
Beware of those adventures before it is too late
For death is lurking around you all, it's seekin' to destroy
The pride of many a father, likewise a mother's joy

Source: William Main Doerflinger: Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman Macmillan 1972 (p243)

Cheers, Stewie. ^^

Subject: Tune Add: WHALEN'S FATE
From: MMario
Date: 27 Dec 02 - 04:15 PM

N-WHALEN'S FATE
C-
A-
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S-100
K-D
B-3/4
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M-5R-2 E-8 C-8 D-2 D-4 D-2 F-4 G-2_b-4 a-4 R-4 F-4
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M-5F-5 R-8 E-4 D-2 C-4 D-3_D-4 R-4 a-4 b-2_b-8 G-0_D-0
L-
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M-5G-5 R-8 c-8_d-8 d-2 d-4 d-2 b-4 a-8 R-2 F-8 E-0 D-0_D-5 F-4
L-
H-
M-5a-3_a-4 R-4 a-8 a#8 b-8 b-5 R-4 G-5 R-8 b-4 d-3
L-
H-
M-5d-2 b-4 a-2 F-8 R-8 E-0 D-0_D-5 F-4 a-3_a-4 R-4 E-8 E-8
L-
H-
M-5D-3 D-2 R-8 F-8 G-2 b-4 a-5 R-8 E-4 F-2 E-4
L-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whalen's Fate (Doerflinger version)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 Dec 02 - 06:38 PM

The other song about this young man and his girl, THE LOST JIMMY WHALEN, is one of the few traditional songs containing supernatural events that was sung/found throughout the timber cutting areas of the (mostly) Northern states of the USA. I included it on my cassette called ON THE RIVER.

Art Thieme