Lyr Add: Banks of LIttle Eau Pleine

Subject: Banks of LIttle Eau Pleine
From: raredance
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 04:14 PM

The version in the DT contains only verses 1-3, 9 and 11 of 13 verses. The 13 verse edition is below

ON THE BANKS OF THE LITTLE EAU PLEINE.
By "Shan T. Boy" (aka William N. Allen)
Tune: "Erin's Green Shore"

1 One evening last June as I rambled
The green woods and valleys among,
The rnosquito's notes were melodious,
And so was the whip-poor-will's song.
The frogs in the marshes were croaking,
The tree-toads were whistling for rain,
And partridges round me were drumming,
On the banks of the Little Eau Pleine.

2 The sun in the west was declining
And tinging the tree-tops with red.
My wandering feet bore me onward,
Not caring whither they led.
I happened to see a young school-ma'am.
She mourned in a sorrowful strain,
She mourned for a jolly young raftsman
On the banks of the Little Eau Pleine.

3 Saying, "Alas, my dear Johnny has left me,
I'm afraid I shall see him no more.
He's down on the lower Wisconsin,
He's pulling a fifty-foot oar.
He went off on a fleet with Ross Gamble
And has left me in sorrow and pain;
And 't is over two months since he started
From the banks of the Little Eau Pleine."

4 I stepped up beside this young school-ma'am,
And thus unto her I did say,
"Why is it you're mourning so sadly
While all nature is smiling and gay?"'
She said, "It is for a young raftsman
For whom I so sadly complain.
He has left me alone here to wander
On the banks of the Little Eau Pleine."

5 "Will you please tell me what kind of clothing
Your jolly young raftsman did wear?
For I also belong to the river,
And perhaps I have seen him somewhere.
If to me you will plainly describe him,
And tell me your young raftsman's name,
Perhaps I can tell you the reason
He's not back to the Little Eau Pleine."

6 "His pants were made out of two meal-sacks,
With a patch a foot square on each knee.
His shirt and his jacket were dyed with
The bark of a butternut tree.
He wore a large open-faced ticker
With almost a yard of steel chain,
When he went away with Ross Gamble
From the banks of the Little Eau Pleine.

7"He wore a red sash round his middle.,
With an end hanging down at each side.
His shoes number ten were of cowhide,
With heels about four inches wide.
His name it was Honest John Murphy.,
And on it there ne'er was a stain,
And he was as jolly a raftsman
As was ever on the Little Eau Pleine.

8 "He was stout and broad-shouldered and manly
His height was about six feet one.
His hair was inclined to be sandy,
And his whiskers as red as the sun.
His age was somewhere about thirty,
He neither was foolish nor vain.
He loved the bold Wisconsin River
Was the reason he left the Eau Pleine."

9 "If John Murphy's the name of your raftsman,
I used to know him very well.
But sad is the tale I must tell you:
Your Johnny was drowned in the Dells.
They buried him 'neath a scrub Norway,
You will never behold him again.
No stone marks the spot where your raftsman
Sleeps far from the Little Eau Pleine."

10 When the school-ma'am heard this information,
She fainted and fell as if dead.
I scooped up a hat-full of water
And poured it on top of her head.
She opened her eyes and looked wildly,
As if she was nearly insane,
And I was afraid she would perish
On the banks of the Little Eau Pleine.

11 "My curses attend you., Wisconsin!
May your rapids and falls cease to roar.
May every tow-head and sand-bar
Be as dry as a log schoolhouse floor.
May the willows upon all your islands
Lie down like a field of ripe grain,
For taking my jolly young raftsman
Away from the Little Eau Pleine.

12 "My curses light on you, Ross Gamble,
For taking my Johnny away.
I hope that the ague will seize you,
And shake you down into the clay.
May your lumber go down to the bottom,
And never rise to the surface again.
You had no business taking John Murphy
Away from the Little Eau Pleine.

13 "Now I will desert my vocation,
I won't teach district school any more.
I will go to some place where I'll never
Hear the squeak of a fifty-foot oar.
I will go to some far foreign country,
To England, to France, or to Spain;
But I'll never forget Johnny Murphy
Nor the banks of the Little Eau Pleine."

This text if from "Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy" by Franz Rickaby (1926 Harvard Univ Press). The author, Mr William (Billy)N. Allen of Wausau, Wisconsin wrote a number of ballads an poems. According to Allen, this one was written sometime in the 1870's. The story is fiction except that there was a well-known pilot on the Wisconsin River named Ross Gamble at that time. Allen was a sometimes singer in lumber camps and elswhere and introduced his own material some of which like this one passed into oral tradition. Allen related that he sometimes went to places where another singer would sing one of his songs and give a detailed story about who wrote the song, except it was never Allen. Allen enjoyed the joke and kept it to himself (perhaps to avoid arguments). This text printed by Rickaby was from a mnauscript in Allen's handwriting. Rickaby got the tune by visiting Allen himself.

Rickaby adds in his comments about the song:

"The ballad is a peculiar composite of humor and pathos, a combination characteristic of Mr Allen's work. In singing it in public, I have noted the varying reaction, a sort of ebb and flow of emotions, in the audience. Through the first five stanzas the story builds well, its genre in no wise indicated. The description in the following three stanzas seems to be a bid for smiles, if not for outright laughter. But the initial lines of stanza 9 prepare the hearers for the answer, which falls with brutal reralism and invariably precipitates a tense and sympathetic hush. the episode of the hatful of water again is rather more humerous than not. the protracted curse in stanzas 11 and 12 is remarkable for its completeness and its extremity, and is in no way comical for those audiences familiar with the lumbering industry. The final stanza is saved by its last two lines."

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Banks of LIttle Eau Pleine
From: raredance
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 04:34 PM

Here is a folk-processed text also collected by Rickaby. A few definitions are probably in order. The Little Eau Pleine River is a small tributary of the Wisconsin river located in Marathon County, WI. "fifty-foot oars" were long oars or sweeps used to guide and propel rafts of logs on large rivers. Although they were "fifty-foot" in the original text, Rickaby says that the dimensions were smaller in the folk variants he collected (see below). the balld is also know by the title of "Jack Murphy" and the name "Ross Gamble" is often "Ross Campbell". Rickaby says tat one unusual variant, the line from stanza 11, "a field of ripe grain" got folk processed to "a fever-wracked brain".

The Little Auplaine

Sung by Mr. M. C. DEAN, Virginia, Minnesota
(Text from Dean, pp. 11-12)


1 One evening in June as I rambled
Through the green woods and meadows alone,
The meadow larks warbled melodious,
And merrily the whippoorwill sung;
The frogs in the marshes were croaking,
And the tree-toads were whistling for rain,
And the partridge all round me were drumming
On the banks of the Little Auplaine.

2 The sun to the west a-declining
Had shaded the tree-tops with red,
My wandering feet led me onward,
Not caring wherever I strayed.
Till by chance I beheld a fair school-ma'am
Who most bitterly did complain.
It was all for the loss of her lover
From the banks of the Little Auplaine.

3 I boldly stepped up to this fair one.,
And this unto her I did say,
"Why are you so sad and so mournful
When all nature is smiling and gay?"
"It's all for a jolly young raftsman,
But I fear I will see him no more,
For he is down on the Wisconsin River
A-pulling a fifteen-foot oar.'

4 If it's all for a jolly young raftsman
You are here in such awful despair,
Pray tell me the name of your true love,
And what kind of clothes did he wear?"
"His pants were made of two meal-sacks,
With a patch a foot wide on each knee,
And his jacket and shirt they were dyed
With the bark of the butternut tree,

5 "His hair was inclined to be curly,
His whiskers as red as the sun;
He was tall, square-shouldered, and handsome,
His height was six feet and one.
His name was young Johnnie Murphy,
And his equal I ne'er saw before;
But he is down on the Wisconsin River
A-pulling a fifteen-foot oar."

6 " If Johnnie Murphy was the name of your true love,
He was a man I knew very well.
But sad is the tale I must tell you:
Your Johnnie was drowned in the Dalles.
We buried him 'neath a scrub Norway,
And his face you will ne'er see again;
No stone marks the grave of your lover,
And he is far from the Little Auplaine."

7 When she heard me say this she fainted,
And fell at my feet like one dead;
I scooped up a hat full of water
And threw it all over her head.
She opened her eyes and looked wildly;
She acted like one that's insane.
I thought to myself she had gone crazy
On the banks of the Little Auplaine.

8 "My curse be upon you, Ross Campbell,
For taking my Johnnie away;
May the eagles take hold of your body
And sink it 'way down in the clay.
May your lumber all go to the bottom,
Never rise to the surface no more;
May all of your creeks and your sandbars
Go as dry as the log schoolhouse floor.

9 "And now I will leave this location,
I'll teach district school no more;
I will go where never, no never,,
I will hear the screech of a fifteen-foot oar.
I will go to some far distant country,
To England, to France, or to Spain,
But I will never forget Johnnie Murphy
Or the banks of the Little Auplaine.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Banks of LIttle Eau Pleine
From: Art Thieme
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 06:38 PM

A fine song. Always has been a favorite of mine. His "Shanty Boy On The Big Eau Clair" is another gem wherein the listener often does not realize the singer is spoofing a bit.

Thanks.

Art

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Banks of LIttle Eau Pleine
From: raredance
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 09:41 PM

Art, I just noticed that the "Shanty Boy on the Big Eau Claire" in the DT is Rickaby's text "B". Rickaby text "A" is directly from Allen. I will have to add that in a separate thread.

rich r