The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #42549 Message #618943
Posted By: Deckman
31-Dec-01 - 07:25 AM
Thread Name: Ballad of the Merry Ferry -songs of the Northwest
Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
Back in 1959, I witnessed quite a wonderful event. Don Firth, along with the wonderful, and beautiful I might add, Patti, produced and starred in a TV series of Folk Songs called "Ballads and Books." This was sponsored by the Seattle Public Library, hence the plug for books. Each of the shows had a distinct theme, and the fifth show was the bringing together, live on camera, of the late Ivar Haugland and the late James (Jim) Stevens. These men were long time friends and song writers and song collectors. For the show, they swapped songs and stories. It was all quite wonderful. Jim was best known as the author of "The Paul Bunyon Tales," as well as the composer of "The Frozen Logger." I well remember his expressing some frustration that folks were always singing the first verse wrong. He said that the line was not "A fourty year old waitress", but rather "A six foot seven waitress." Jim passed away just a few years after that session. I was able to give Ivar a tape of that show years later. He was most grateful and delighted. Bob