I've been tracking camp songs for years, and the origins of most of them are still a mystery to me. I've spent years on "Barges" and "Spider's Web." Many of the songs published in Girl Scout songbooks come from leaders or former leaders, and the Girl Scouts are sometimes helpful in making contact with the copyright holders.

You may find our Scout Songbooks Indexing PermaThread helpful in researching camp songs. Also, be aware that there is a thread indexing the songs from the Cooperative Recreation Service songbooks. Many of these songs were popular at camps, and in school songbooks.

I just finished lyrics research and copyrights permissions for 1300 songs for the Rise Again Songbook (1200 songs were accepted for the book). I'll tell you, getting copyright permissions was not an easy job. Sure was an interesting challenge, though.

-Joe-