In the early 1970's I was talking to 80 year old Wes Asbury, a former police chief of Whitewater, Wisconsin, in his red shack with a naked female statue in the window on the flood plane of the Rock River in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin (Blackhawk Island). Wes told me he'd known the Great Lakes disaster song "Lost On The Lady Elgin" when he was younger. But he couldn't remember it. So the next time I was up there to do a gig I brought a tape of Rev. Jim Howie's version of the song to play for Wes. He sat and listened to it and finally blurted out, "Yes, that's it---but it weren't no Waltz!!!" I picked up my guitar and played it once the way Jim Howie did it--in 3/4 time. Then I changed the tempo---and lo and behold---there it was!!!

BOIL THEM CABBAGE DOWN !

Art Thieme