Lyr Req: Haunted Hunter (from Billie Maxwell)

Subject: Haunted Hunter
From: Dan Keding
Date: 06 Oct 98 - 02:09 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics and information about a ballad that Rosalie Sorrels recorded on her great album "The Lonesome Roving Wolves." The song is the Haunted Hunter. Any idea, other than her fine liner notes about it?? I checked the data base but couldn't find lyrics. Anyone know about it or where I can find the words? I'd appreciate it. Dan

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dale Rose
Date: 06 Oct 98 - 11:52 PM

The earliest version I know of is by Billie Maxwell, probably early to mid 30s. Her version is on When I Was a Cowboy, Volume 1 from Shanachie. The only place I could find a sound clip was at tunes.com

http://www.tunes.com/tunes-cgi2/tunes/release/151600/1/4

It is track 19.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dale Rose
Date: 07 Oct 98 - 12:33 AM

Sorry, not Shanachie, YAZOO!

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Jon W.
Date: 07 Oct 98 - 11:08 AM

That's okay, Dale - Shanachie owns the Yazoo label.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dan Keding
Date: 07 Oct 98 - 12:28 PM

Thanks for all your help. Got the lyrics and information I needed. Mudcat is the best. Dan

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 07:29 PM

I know a song called the Haunted Hunter known also by the title "The Walker in the Snow"? Is this the same song you are talking about?

If it is, it was originally a poem written by a Canadian poet, Charles Dawson Shanly, and put to music when it travelled to the U.S.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 08:22 PM

Hey, Dan or somebody, can you post the lyrics for the rest of us? It sounds interesting.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dale Rose
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 09:58 PM

Here are the first three verses from the Billie Maxwell version, that is all the notes had, and I don't want to struggle with a transcription at the moment. It will at least verify whether we are talking about the same song or not.

Speed on, speed on brave comrade, our camp lies far away
We must reach that haunted valley before the close of day
How I became snow blinded, I will tell you as I go
By the blight of the haunted hunter as he walked the midnight snow

Through the cold December heavens came the pale moon and the stars
The yellow sun was sinking behind the purple bars
And the snow it lay drifted along the ridges drear
That lay for miles between me and the camp for which I fear

There was silence on the hillside and through the solemn woods
No sound of life or motion to break the solitude
Save the wailing of some moose bird in its plaintive notes so low
Or the skating of some red leaf upon the frozen snow
—THE HAUNTED HUNTER

More later, if this is what is wanted.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Barry Finn
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 10:18 PM

Hi Dale, I believe you're thinking of "The Walker Of The Snow" also called "The Shadow Hunter". I can't (yet) do the click here, but I think I did the link thing right, if not In Joe I Trust. Some of the songs backround & words are is this old thread. Barry

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=3113#15349

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dale Rose
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 10:37 PM

Well, it seems likely that is the original source, but the only version I have ever known is called The Haunted Hunter sung by Billie Maxwell on When I Was A Cowboy, Vol. 1 on Yazoo 2022. I have the same song on an old lp somewhere as well. Her version almost certainly dates from the early to mid 30s, though the notes do not indicate a date. (Yazoo is pretty pitiful when it comes to notes~~I hope someone from that good company is reading this, and decides, "Whoa, we better shape up!")

Incidently, I think the notes are wrong in one instance, instead of "the camp for which I fear", I hear "the camp for which I steer. Makes more sense, too.

Moira also indicated that this is the source, but I could not verify that until I read the thread you quoted. (I had never looked at it before)

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dale Rose
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 10:58 PM

Charles Dawson Shanly 1811-1875, published The Walker of the Snow in The Atlantic Monthly, May, 1859. It was recently reprinted in the book, Favourite Stories of Graveside Al, Alan Maitland, Viking Penguin Canada, 1996. (page 139)

I found several copies of the poem Civil War/Civile Bellum by Shanly lying about here and there on the net as well.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 09:33 AM

This is "The Walker of the Snow" that we talked about in another thread. Davy Spillane (uillean piper) had it on an album of his called "Shadow Hunter". The arrangement and vocal (by Sean Tyrell which was pointed out by Barry Finn I believe) is haunting yet beautiful. I think the thread was titled "Scary Songs".

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 05:52 PM

I love singing this one. Living way up North in Yellowknife, Shanly's lyrics conjure up Northern images to me. I've, in fact, heard about a similar legend told among the Inuit (Eskimos). I have no idea where, exactly, Shanly has this story take place. I have not seen anyone identify the precise location of the story, but my instinct tells me it takes place either in the Yukon or the Northwest Territories. His poem puts me in mind of the kinds or stories Robert Service wrote about.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Dan Keding
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 06:10 PM

Thanks to all for the information. I first heard Rosalie Sorrels sing it and knew right away I'd want to do it - it just took me 18 years to get around to it. Great spooky ballad. If you like these kids of songs check out "The Griesely Bride" another great spooker. Dan

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Jerry
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 11:16 AM

The late Dave Perry includes The Haunted Hunter (same lyrics as given above) on his tape The Wind That Tramps the World. It's a terrific collection of songs and recitations, including an unforgettable rendition of The Face on the Barroom Floor, and a couple of R.W.Service poems.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 08:07 PM

Just a little correction to Jerry's note above. It's David PARRY with an A. But you're right on about the album.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From:
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 08:16 PM

Criminy, I had that book by Fireside Al and gave it away after I read it. No wonder the Walker sounded familiar.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From:
Date: 20 Oct 98 - 12:18 AM

I do have that book around here somewhere. It was the Fireside Al I gave away, not the Graveside Al. I looked at the web page and it is the one, because I remember that frightful story where they burn the little Scottish girl as a witch.

I suspect Walker of the Snow was inspired by that creepy feeling you get when you walk through a dark forest that is deep with snow, the only sound being the wind sloughing through the trees. That's when all of the old Indian stories come to mind.

Subject: RE: Haunted Hunter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 28 Apr 11 - 11:25 PM

The Maxwell recording of "Haunted Hunter" was a bit earlier than the mid-thirties, as asserted above. Charles K. Wolfe wrote about the recording sessions Billie Maxwell had with Ralph Peer in his book Classic Country. The recordings were made in mid-1929 and released in November of that year. Peer recorded only six songs from Maxwell, including "Billy Venero," "Haunted Hunter" and "A Cowboy's Wife" (a "feminist" cowboy song written by Maxwell herself). They were not big sellers--"Billy Venero" sold only about 3500 copies, while "Haunted Hunter" sold only around 1500 (if I recall; Wolfe gave more precise figures). Consequently, Peer did not have her come to the studios in New York or Atlanta for further sessions.

Subject: The Haunted Hunter
From: GUEST,Sharron Larkin
Date: 05 Apr 12 - 12:15 PM

For fun I looked this up as we found a copy of the words our Grandfather taught us around the deer hunt campfire. I taught it to my children and we sing it around our campfires just before we go to bed all the time.
The word are a little bit different and the tune is similiar, but different than the one I found on line. We have 7 verses, and our lyrics and music seem more haunted than the one on line. If you are interested in our version you can contact me at [e-mail] or call me personally at 435-652-2012. Our version may not be the original, but we all love it. We sang it at our mothers funeral.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Haunted Hunter (from Billie Maxwell)
From: GUEST,Old Arkey
Date: 25 Feb 16 - 11:05 AM

The Haunted Hunter or The Walker in the Snow - originally published as a poem with one more verse (which I have never heard sung) by a Scot turned Canadian. I found it in a book of Victorian verse in the Barre MA public library. I've got a copy of the poem in a box somewhere.