Cape Breton Song

Subject: Cape Breton Song
From: GUEST,Alasdair_S
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 12:35 PM

I hope there are some Cape Bretoners on here who can help me out. I was in Cape Breton recently and heard a song on Radio Free Cape Breton... I only have a vague recollection that it was sung by a male artist and was about arriving in California, having had to leave Cape Breton for work... Can anyone help me work out what song it was and how I might get hold of a copy?

Additional to that, I've been trying to locate a good selection of Cape Breton songs (in English) from which to learn some new tunes... any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance,

Al

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:32 PM

Not enough to go on. Alasdair. Many songs are about leaving Cape Breton to find work.

Off the top of my head I can't recall one centred in California.

Have you tried the CB Music Mailing List? You could subscribe and ask a bunch of Cape Breton Music Enthusiasts which might help.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: mg
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:54 PM

do you know way down in east cape breton where they knit the socks ad mittens? Great song. I presume you are familiar with Allistair McGilvary (sp?), Coal Town Road, song for the Myra etc...lots of others too. mg

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Beer
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 11:13 PM

Chezzetcook is represented by the huskey black and tan.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 12:34 PM

Didn't get a chance yesterday as the internet connection went right after I finished the first message.

If you put Cape Breton into the Lyric & Knowledge Search block up top, you will find a remarkable number of Cape Breton songs listed in both the DT and the Forum.

That's a start.

Beer? What? Chezzetcook isn't in Cape Breton.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Beer
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 12:54 PM

George,
You are absolutely correct. But it does follow the line that Mary Garvey used. " Way down in east Cape Bretion, where they knit their socks and mittens". Found I think in the first a/p that Catherine McKinnon recorded. I grew up in West Chezzetcook so I kind of never forgot that song. Was a big thing back then to hear your village named in a song.
Cheers,
Beer

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: mg
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 03:40 PM

I thought it wa the b name of the company,..

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: GUEST,Jacqued
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 03:09 PM

Didn't Stan Rogers do a song something like this?

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 06:48 PM

Do you know the title, Beer? I don't recognize the song. I'll have to check with some alumni from Singalong Jubilee to see if they remember the song.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 06:51 PM

So, if I am understanding you, the song he's looking for has these lines?

way down in east cape breton where they knit the socks ad mittens
Chezzetcook is represented by the huskey black and tan.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: gnu
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 07:10 PM

Now, would that be about the Caper an his buddy that arrived at my Gramma's farm in Kent County, New Brunswick, on his way to Tronna fer work? He and his buddy asked for any work for supper and a night's rest. She set the Caper an his buddy ta splittin wood fer their keep while she begun settin out the tea for her bridge club. Through the kitchen winda, she spied buddy justa dancin and doin all kinds a jumpin around. So, she asked the Caper if his buddy could give this demonstration of Airobics and warm up exercise regimen to her bridge club. The Caper replied, "I don't know if George could take another crack in the nuts with the axe like that agin."

Yeah, it's an oooold joke, but I still like it.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: mg
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 08:13 PM

re the words as I fuzzily recall them..


here is one verse..

...have you seen my brother Angus oh tell me if you can
One he was a greaseman but now he is a policeman
For he could not make a living as an honest working man

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Beer
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 08:52 PM

George,
The title is: Honest Working Man. I'm sure I still have the record but it is presently in storage. Catherine McKinnon did sing it and I think she got it from Helen Creighton.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 08:56 PM

The lyrics and a sound file can be found with a forum search. A fun but nonsensicle song.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 04:00 PM

Thanks, Sandy and Mary. Here's the link to that song Honest Working Man. Apparently it came from one of Edith Fowke's books.

I was really asking Alasdair if he remembered more.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: GUEST,Moran Dan
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 05:48 PM

In reply to the original question about a song "sung by a male artist and was about arriving in California, having had to leave Cape Breton for work..."
A couple songs come to mind, but none actually specify 'California'.
One is by Allister MacGillivray: You'll Be Home Again. A nice version is found on 'Song for the Mira' ... Amazon has it.
Another is Buddy MacDonald's song about leaving CB with a couple of buddies and heading to find work 'out west', but it all takes place in Canada. It's called 'Tarsands Lament', and you can buy it at www.castlebaymusic.com
The last is the song I wrote about my father leaving CB to find work, called 'Feels Like Home', but since it's never been recorded, it can't be that one :)

Moran Dan

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 11:21 PM

And there's one about the bridge to the mainland with the line "it was built for going away". Check out this thread   Also see this link

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Hrothgar
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 06:51 AM

Jacqued, Stan Rogers did write a song called "Californis" on this theme. It's on his "Northwest Passage" album. I'm not sure if it deals with Cape Breton, though. I have never liked the song enough to listen closely to it.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Hrothgar
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 06:53 AM

Oh, and the lyrcs are not posted on his website:

http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/main.html

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 02:41 PM

Someone else suggested California by Stan Rogers, and the only bit I have found is this

California
My friends all call you home
And if you take away another
I'll be back once more alone
Is it my fault that my kind are always
Drawn towards the sun
Like a child to home whenever dark is come?

Would those words be what you're looking for, Alasdair?

Subject: Lyr Add: HOME (THE CAPE BRETON SONG) (K Crawford)
From:
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 02:44 PM

Another song has been suggested:

HOME
(The Cape Breton Song)
Words & Music by Kenn Crawford
Copyright 2005 Kenn Crawford (SOCAN)

Left my home and my family
In search of work, a new life for me
But where do the roads lead, when you leave home?
They always lead back to Cape Breton
Hmmm....
 
Travelled far, and travelled wide
I dream of the ones, I left behind
But where does your heart go, when you leave home?
It always stays back in Cape Breton
 
Where the fishermen fight, the wind and the cold
And miners go deep, to dig the black gold
Many leave home, to wander and roam
But they always come home to Cape Breton
Hmmm....
 
Driftwood is piling high
The trees reach up to kiss the sky
Here is my wish, on the first star tonight
Light my way to Cape Breton
Hmmm....
 
Where the fishermen fight, the wind and the cold
And miners go deep, to dig the black gold
Many leave home, to wander and roam
But they always come home to Cape Breton

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 02:45 PM

Again the song doesn't mention California, but....

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: mg
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 03:39 PM

do you know the Cape Breton lullaby? It is beautiful. mg

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: OtherDave
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 03:40 PM

It's tangential, but this thread reminds me of Frank MacDonald's lyric:

Oh, the Margaree salmon have come home from the sea
But the woman I loved never came home to me
In your travels, my friend,
Did you happen to see
A woman who's lonely for the blue Margaree?

...going back to the line about Cape Breton and mittens, I'm sure I've heard something like that as a verse for "Herring and Potatoes." Which I'm sure has a spiritual connection to "Tatties and Herring."

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: Beer
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:45 PM

Mary,
Don't think I know that one, but could it be "Atlantic Lullaby"?
Starts like: There's a place so dean to me.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 05:41 PM

Cape Breton Lullaby, and perhaps Atlantic Lullaby are both in the Forum. As is Herring and Potatoes, I believe.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: mg
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 11:06 PM

that is not the one..it starts out...I forget..one verse goes Daddy is on the bay he'll keep the pots brewing keep all from tumblign down tumbling down to rack and ruin pray Mary send him home safe over the foam. mg

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 03:04 PM

I think this is what Sandy meant to do

Cape Breton Lullaby
Atlantic Lullaby
Atlantic Lullaby and others

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:45 PM

Thanks for all these posts - I'll have to spend an evening going through them!

Al

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 01:41 PM

Was looking for lyrics for another song and saw alisdairs question - was it perhaps the song done by John Rankin - I am pretty sure after his song dog CD he had one with the word California in the title.

Subject: RE: Cape Breton Song
From:
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 01:43 PM

correction on my last post - meant to say "Jimmy" Rankin.