Bob: Thanks for Fowke's notes - she gives much more detail than I had remembered. Although we're still left with all the puzzlement regarding the chorus ...

Jim: I'll think of Joe Dowie the next time I'm down to the extracts ...


While we're in the neighbourhood, I'll ask again: Does anybody know lyrics for Dirty Yankee Miners? My father used to sing a verse and chorus, but there must be more verses:

In Sydney harbour I did stand [or "she did land" - don't remember],
A [The?] brig came in from Newfoundland,
The crew she had was simply grand,
Those Dirty Yankee Miners.

Dirty necks and dirty ties,
Dirty rings around their eyes,
You'd think that they were in disguise,
Those Dirty Yankee Miners.

And I've also heard:

Up the road, as thick as the flies,
With their dirty necks and dirty ties,
You'd think, etc.

Ronnie MacEachern used to sing the chorus to the A part of the tune Mussels in the Corner. Not the tune my father used.

And I've also heard somewhere, "Those dirty Newfoundlanders".

NB: The "Yankee Miners" were Newfoundlanders who had worked in the "Yankee Mine" in Newfoundland. They came to CB as replacement workers, or scabs, during a strike; hence the scorn.