The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #151580 Message #3539525
Posted By: GUEST,Bob Coltman
19-Jul-13 - 07:43 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Portland County Jail
Subject: RE: Origins: Portland County Jail
The other possibility should not be discounted: that the song is
1. a concoction pulled out of the air, using "Portland" strictly for euphony, and
2. is really a generic jail song not attached to any place name.
I've wondered for a while now if Portland County Jail is a little too clever to be a folk song, and that (pace Sandburg) it never originated or was sung in any jail by any convicts. That it was, in short, a piece of attempted pop material.
Which doesn't make it any less fascinating.
Bob