Lyr Add: Shanty-Boy on the Big Eau Claire

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHANTY-BOY ON THE BIG EAU CLAIRE
From: raredance
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 08:50 PM

THE SHANTY-BOY ON THE BIG EAU CLAIRE

By SHAN T. Boy
From the Author (Mr. William. N. Allen) Wausau, Wisconsin

1 Every girl she has her troubles; each man likewise has his.
But few can match the agony of the following story., viz.
It relates about the affection of a damsel young and fair
Who dearly loved a shanty-boy up on the Big Eau Claire.

2 This young and artless maiden was of noble pedigree.
Her mother kept a milliner shop in the town of Mosinee.
She sold waterfalls and ribbons and bonnets trimmed with lace
To all the gay young ladies that lived around that place.

3 Her shanty-boy was handsome, a husky lad was he.
In summer time he tail-sawed in a mill at Mosinee.
And when the early winter blew its cold and biting breeze,
He worked upon the Big Eau Claire a-chopping down pine trees.

4 The milliner swore the shanty-boy her daughter ne'er should wed.
But Sally did not seem to care for what her mother said.
So the milliner packed her ribbons and bonnets by the stack
And started another milliner shop 'way down in Fond du Lac.

5 Now Sall was broken-hearted and weary of her life.
She dearly loved the shanty-boy and wished to be his wife.
And when brown autumn came along and ripened all the crops,
She went 'way out to Baraboo and went to picking hops.

6 But in that occupation she found but little joy,
For her thoughts were still reverting to her dear shanty-boy.
She caught the scarlet fever and lay a week or two
In a suburban pest-house in the town of Baraboo.

7 And often in her ravings she would tear her raven hair
And talk about her shanty-boy upon the Big Eau Claire.
The doctors tried, but all in vain, her hapless life to save;
And millions of young hop-lice are dancing over her grave.

8 When the shanty-boy heard these sad news, his business he did leave.
His emotional insanity was fearful to perceive.
He hid his saw in a hollow log and traded off his axe,
And hired out for a sucker on a fleet of Sailor jack's.

9 But still no peace or comfort he anywhere could find,
That milliner's daughter's funeral came so frequent to his mind.
He often wished that death would come and end his woe and grief,
And grim death took him at his word and came to his relief.

10 For he fell off a rapids piece on the falls at Mosinee,
And ended thus his faithful love and all his misery.
The bold Wisconsin River is now roaring o'er his bones.
His companions are the catfish, and his grave a pile of stones.

11 The milliner is a bankrupt now; her shop's all gone to wrack,
And she talks of moving some fine day away from Fond du Lac.
Her pillow is often haunted by her daughter's auburn hair
And the ghost of that young shanty-boy from up the Big Eau Claire.

12 And often in her slumbers she sees a dreadful sight
Which puts the worthy milliner into an awful fright.
She sees horrid ghosts and phantoms, which makes her blood run cool.
By her bedside in his glory stands the ghost of Little Bull.

13 Now let this be a warning to other maidens fair,
To take no stock in shanty-boys up on the Big Eau Claire;
For shanty-boys are rowdies, as everybody knows.
They dwell in the dense forest where the mighty pine tree grows,

14 And stealing logs and shingle-bolts, and telling awful lies,
And playing cards and swearing, is all their exercise.
But seek the solid comfort and bliss without alloy,
And play their cards according for some one-horse farmer's boy.

This is another lumber camp song written by Billy Allen of Wausau, Wisconsin (see also "Banks of Little Eau Pleine" thread). This text was obtained by Franz Rickaby (Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy, 1926) directly from the author. The version already in the DT is a second one that Rickaby obtained via the oral tradition from another singer. Allen said he wrote this in 1875 or 1876. Versions of it were even found among the cowboys and homesteaders on the prairie according to George Will of Bismark, North Dakota (Journal of American Folkore, vol 22). This song has no historical basis other than the fact that "Sailor Jack" (Jack O'Brien) was a well-known pilot on the Wisconsin River. Variants have folk-processed some pharses. "Fleet of Sailor Jack's" often becomes "fleet of lumberjacks" (so much for the one real character); "a suburban pest-house" has become "Asa Baldwin's pest-house"; "a rapids piece" becomes "a precipice"; "grim death" becomes "old Grimdad". The three Wisconsin citiy names are usually retained. Allen introduced the song to the lumber camps, himself, during his travels as a timber cruiser. When Rickaby caught up with him in the 1920's he could no longer remember what tune he had used for the song. Allen did not write his own melodies but appropriated them from other songs.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shanty-boy on the Big Eau Claire
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Mar 02 - 09:58 PM

When I recorded this song in the 1970s for Kicking Mule Records (KM-148) --- Songs Of The Heartland --- I did it as I recalled Paul Clayton doing it in the back room of The Gate Of Horn folk club at a Sunday afternoon hoot in 1959. Later it was pointed out to me that the tune I'd used was very close to Joe Heaney's tune for "Morrissey And The Russian Sailor".

When the LP went out of print, I recorded it again on a cassette tape called "On The River" to sell on the steamboat I sang on for years.

It's a great story. I sure would've loved to've known W. N. Allan.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shanty-boy on the Big Eau Claire
From: lamarca
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 10:54 AM

Art, my husband learned this from your KM recording and has been performing it for several years (thanking you as his source). It's one of my favorite ballads, since I grew up in Wisconsin.

Our friend Judy Cook stopped in Fond du Lac (or, as we cheeseheads say it, Fondalack) while on tour in Wisconsin. For a joke, she went to a hat shop, where she purchased a night-cap made of imitation lace from the milliner's daughter and brought it back and gave it to us...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BIG EAU CLAIRE
From: masato sakurai
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 11:16 AM

The DT version is SHANTY BOY ON THE BIG EAU CLAIRE. This is Laws 11C (in G. Malcolm Laws, Jr., Native American Balladry, rev. ed., 1964, p. 152). Also in The Traditional Ballad Index. The following is the version in E.C. Beck, They Knew Paul Bunyan (University of Michigan Press, 1956, pp. 207-212; text only).

THE BIG EAU CLAIRE

1. Come all you jolly lumberjacks
And listen to my song.
It's one I've just invented;
It's one that's ten years long.
It's of a brisk, young damsel,
So gallant, young and fair,
Who dearly loved a shanty boy
Upon the Big Eau Claire.

2. The shanty boy was handsome;
There was none more gay than he.
In the summertime he labored
In a mill at Mosinee;
But when winter came along
With its cool and wintry breeze,
He worked upon the Big Eau Claire
Cutting down the big pine trees.

3. He wore a heavy black moustache,
A head of curly hair;
A fairer boy than he was not
Upon the Big Eau Claire.
He loved the milliner's daughter.
He loved her long and well,
But circumstances happened
The which I hate to tell.

4. The milliner said, "A shanty boy
My daughter shall not wed."
But Sally didn't give a darn
For what her mother said.
She packed up her waterfalls
And bonnets by the stack
And started another milliner shop
'Way down at Fond du Lac.

5. Now she is broken-hearted
And wearied of her life.
She dearly loved the shanty boy
And wished to be his wife.
So when bonny boy came along
A-reaping of his crops,
She went down to Baraboo
And went to picking hops.

6. It was in her occupation
She found but little joy,
For thoughts came rolling o'er her mind
About the shanty boy.
She took the scarlet fever,
Laid sick a week or two.
It was in the Colby prison house
At the town of Baraboo.

7. Sometimes in her raving
She tore her amber hair
And talked about her shanty boy
Upon the Big Eau Claire.
The doctors tried but all in vain;
Her life they could not save.
And now the yellow willows
Are drooping o'er her grave.

8. When the shanty boy heard of the news,
He became a lunatic.
He acted just as others do
When they become lovesick.
He hid his saw in a hollow log
And traded off his axe,
And started as a captain's boy
On the fleets of Sailor Jack.

9. He fell into the rapids at
The falls of Mosinee,
Which brought an end to his dear life
And all his misery.
The old Wisconsin River
Is sweeping o'er his brow.
His friends and his relations
Are weeping for him now.

10. The milliner is bankrupt;
Her shop is gone to wreck.
Sometimes she thinks of moving
Away from Fond du Lac.
Her pillow's haunted every night;
It is by her daughter fair
And the ghost of the shanty boy
Upon the Big Eau Claire.

11. So, all of you fair maidens,
Take an advice from me.
Don't be too quick to fall in love
With every boy you see,
For shanty boys are rowdy
As everybody knows.
They dwell up in the pinewoods
Where the mighty pine tree grows.

12. A-stealing logs or shingles
Or a-telling of big lies,
A-playing cards at evening,
Is all their exercise.
But if you want to marry
For comfort or for joy,
I'll advise you to get married
To some honest farmer boy.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shanty-boy on the Big Eau Claire
From: raredance
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 08:30 PM

Masato, thanks for adding the Beck text. Saved me some typing. Beck didn't put this one in his first book, but included it in his second. The song doesn't seem to appear in the collections of lumberjack songs from further east.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shanty-boy on the Big Eau Claire
From: Art Thieme
Date: 21 Mar 02 - 09:54 PM

Lamarca, that's great. It's cool as hell that the song is moving on and I'm glad to've had some role in it. I do hope that Judy C. got to Mosinee. There is a dam there now where the old rapids was --- holding back the waters of the river, but you can look over the now pretty dry stony jumble of rocks that were, in the last century, the rapids. It's easy to picture a "rapids piece" (a section of the lumber raft) being tossed and battered trying to negotiate the white waters. That's right where the fellow in the ballad would've been lost.

The huge long rafts were broken up into the smaller "rapids pieces" to make it easier to do the passage.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shanty-boy on the Big Eau Claire
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Mar 02 - 10:54 PM

One of my favourites of yours, too, Art. You do it so tenderly.

Great work all!

Thanks,

kat