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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: Ebbie Date: 04 Feb 13 - 11:11 AM (Welcome to the Mudcat, TwistedBough!) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: GUEST,warren fahey Date: 05 Feb 13 - 02:41 AM the version I collected (in 1973) from Jimmy Cargill in Sydney is available on my 2012 album - The Australian Bush Orchestra....... it has Jimmy singing from the original tapes. It can be sampled at iTunes. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: TwistedBough Date: 06 Feb 13 - 08:42 PM Bob and leeneia, Thanks for your thoughtful responses. So true, Bob, about history and oral transmission. Leeneia, indeed, I may be worrying too much! Still, our American minstrel humor was often at the expense of black people, which I would not want to propagate. However, their humor appears to have been broad, to say the least, and if this last verse is a sick joke, it's pretty subtle and likely would have been lost on much of the audience. A "playful ending to an innocent song" fits with the fact that the term "true blue" also occurs in the second verse, "I'd catch her a bird with a wing of true blue". Mr. S.S. Steele sure liked that alliteration! In any event some good folks (eg. John Hartford; Tom, Brad & Alice) have sung this without it sticking in their craw; maybe it oughtn't stick in mine. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: TwistedBough Date: 07 Feb 13 - 01:00 AM ... and thanks for the welcome, Ebbie! |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE DEAR NATIVE GIRL From: Bob Bolton Date: 08 Oct 13 - 08:49 PM G'day again, I had reason to wander back through this thread, the other day ... and since then I have been looking at some great searching done by our Mark Gregory ... using web searches of newly posted OCR scans from the National Library of Australia's TROVE site. This means we are often finding the first recorded published for of songs that have spent the last century, or so, in oral transmission ... and, sometimes, subject to "creative" resurrection! This is an Australian song based on the form and tune of The Gum Tree Canoe ... but ashore from said canoe - in either Tombidgee Gum ... or Australian Eucalypt (our vast range of "gum trees"). The American tune was well-known ... and popular for many different song settings. (from Mark's posting: THE DEAR NATIVE GIRL Air.-"Gum-tree Canoe." Australia, dear land of my childhood, and birth, I think of you still amidst beauty and mirth; Your forests, your mountains their charms have for me, And the dear native girl who will share it with me. Chorus: Then give me a hut in my own native land. Or a tent in the bush with the mountains so grand ; With the scenes of my childhood contented I'll be, And the dear native girl who will share it with me. I love far to roam where the emu does stray, Where the wild native dog cries aloud for his prey, Where the kangaroo, wallaroo and wombat so rare Are found with the scrub turkey and native bear. How pleasant to rise at the dawn of the day, And chase the wild horse o'er the hills far away, Where he'll prance and he'll snort all alone in his Until he's run down by hearts bold and free. When winter winds whistle and blast the sweet flowers, How happy and cheerful we'll then pass the hours With the friends of our youth in song or in glee, And the dear native girl who will share it with me. -"Queenslander." Notes This song was first published in the Queenslander 8 September 1894, with the note: (From versions supplied by "Colonial Boy," St. Lawrence, and R.C.H., Cloncurry.) This version is from the Victorian newspaper the Oakleigh Leader 29 September 1894 p. 7. This version has been 'naturalised' with several Australia terms and 'species', apart from the 'Gum Tree (canoe)': Native: In this song means 'native-born' - an Australian of European ancestry but local birth, Emu: Our struthioform bird ... somewhere in size between the African ostrich and the South America rhea (... or 'emas' ... Hispanic language source of our name ...) Native Dog: The dingo ... pretty close to the oldest recognised forms of wild dog ... Kangaroo: ... Ubiquitously ..., Wallaroo: Smaller macropod ... somewhere between kangaroo and wallaby ... Wombat: Hefty burrowing herbivorous marsupial. (Interestingly, it is now considered that our koala is a "re-arborialised wombat" - indicated by the koala' reversed pouch ... necessary for the baby wombat's comfort during mother's burrowing - but superfluous back up in the trees! Scrub Turkey: No relation to the American Turkey ... but similar size, black body plumage, red ( ... or sometimes yellow ...) wattles. Builds an immense mound to protect and warm its eggs. (I was intrigued ... last Summer ... to see one Scrub Turkey at Taronga Zoo, building its nest / mound ... hard up against the outer fence of the Tigers' enclosure!) Native Bear: Our Koala ... certainly no bear - but the early settlers were no naturalists! Regards, BobB |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: Bob Bolton Date: 08 Oct 13 - 09:11 PM Errr ... G'ay again ... ... "Tombigbee" ... get it right Bolton ...! (Maybe I should have let more morning coffee seep into the spaces between the remaining brain cells ... before rashly striking "Submit Message"!) Anyway, under whatever spellings and versions, the song seems to have been popular in its various national permutations in both America and Australia. Regard(les)s, BobB |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: GUEST,Dani Date: 09 Oct 13 - 06:33 AM Thanks so much for refreshing this! Someone (whose name I did not catch) did a very sweet rendition of this at last week's Getaway, and wondered about it. Small world : ) Dani |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 09 Oct 13 - 06:27 PM Bob, thanks for posting those lyrics. There's a word missing at the end of the third line of the next-to-last stanza, "Where he'll prance and he'll snort all alone in his". "Tree" would scan and rhyme and be grammatically correct, but I don't think you'd find a wild horse prancing in one, not even in Australia. "Glee", maybe? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: Bob Bolton Date: 09 Oct 13 - 07:47 PM G'day Gerry, Yeah ... I must have grabbed that, as it was, off Mark Gregory's site ... and not 'proofread' sufficiently. The TROVE scans are generated automatically ... and posted without really careful scrutiny. Mark does pick up some errors ... and fix what can be checked back to the original printed text ... but I do find minor points in my gathering and 'tidying up' to make workable session sheets. The best thing is to go back through Greg's site ... to the TROVE OCR ... and compare withthe image of the newsprint. Interestingly, about the first of Mark's postings I saw was the apparent first (1891) printing of what is now our "Click Go The Shears" ... and the newspaper printing consistently has ("... the BARE BELLED EWE.) instead of "... the BARE BELLIED EWE- where the fact that the old shearer snagged a ewe with scarce belly wool ... is integral to him being able to beat 'the ringer' (the best shearer in that shed) to finish the first sheep ... an 'honour' among the shearers ... but of no particular material profit! Regards, BobB |
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Subject: Lyr Add: GUM TREE CANOE (from M Wyndham-Read) From: Jim Dixon Date: 12 Oct 13 - 12:48 AM Here's another Australian version: GUM TREE CANOE As recorded by Martyn Wyndham-Read on "Starlit Skies" I'll sing you a few lines, short little song, Won't take a moment; I'll not keep you long. I will sing of the days when our hearts they were young, And we'd sail on the Murray river, boys, as the days passed along. CHORUS: We'd row, we'd row through the water so blue. Like a feather we would float along in our gum-tree canoe. My hand on the banjo, my toe on the oar, I'd work all the day and I'd sing as I'd go, And at night-time alow, with my Julia so fair, We would sail on the Murray river, boys, and our dreams we would share. I once left the river, went on the land, To set myself up as a cocky so grand, But the life didn't suit me, the way it was then, So it's back to the Murray river, boys, and my life there again. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Oct 13 - 02:22 PM The American "Gum Tree Canoe," 1847, as posted by Jim Dixon (22 Feb 04), is called "Tom-Big-Bee River" in some later song books: G. C. Noble, 1911, "The Most Popular Plantation Songs," Hinds, Noble and Eldridge, NYC (with musical score). A. E. Wier (edit.), 1929, "Songs of the Sunny South," D. Appleton and Co., NYC and London. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: GUEST,MG Date: 14 Oct 13 - 06:37 AM nearly 20 years ago I set up Australian Folk Songs, based on a Hypercard collection I had made, and I came across Digital Tradition and gave them permission to use the song I had put online thus the initial MG! I did a search to remind me which ones they were and found this cheers Mark 0.7967 - OH FOR ME GROG (2) 0.7967 - LIME JUICE TUB 0.7967 - LACHLAN TIGERS 0.7967 - KELLYS, BYRNE AND HART 0.7967 - INDICATING ROCK 0.7967 - GUMTREE CANOE 0.7967 - GIRLS OF THE SHAMROCK SHORE 0.7967 - FRANK GARDINER 0.7967 - EUGOWRA ROCKS 0.7967 - BULLOCKIE'S SONG 0.7967 - BEN HALL 0.7742 - DROVER'S DREAM 0.7742 - MARYBOROUGH MINER 0.7742 - WITH MY SWAG UPON MY SHOULDER 0.7742 - WALLABY STEW 0.7742 - WIDGEGOWEERA JOE 0.7742 - STREETS OF FORBES 0.7742 - OLD KEG OF RUM 0.7742 - INGLEWOOD COCKY 0.7742 - HE'S GONE AWAY 0.7742 - DENNIS O'REILLY 0.7742 - DALBY RAM 0.7742 - CYPRUS BRIG 0.7742 - CONVICT MAID 0.7742 - COCKIES OF BUNGAREE 2 0.7742 - COCKIES OF BUNGAREE 0.7742 - CATALPA 0.7742 - CANE CUTTER'S LAMENT 0.7742 - BUMP ME INTO PARLIAMENT 0.7742 - BULLS OF THE SPEEWAH 0.7742 - BULLOCKY OH 0.7742 - BULLOCKIES' BALL 0.7742 - BROKEN-DOWN SQUATTER 0.7742 - BOTANY BAY (3) 0.7742 - BOLD JACK DONOHUE (2) 0.7742 - BLUEY BRINK 0.7742 - ANOTHER FALL OF RAIN 0.7742 - A THOUSAND MILE AWAY |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: Bob Bolton Date: 14 Oct 13 - 11:18 PM Hmmm... Looking at my additional posting of 12 Oct 13 - 12:48 AM, I note that I ought to have "translated" another "Australianism" : "cocky" (as below ...) I once left the river, went on the land, To set myself up as a cocky so grand, But the life didn't suit me, the way it was then, So it's back to the Murray river, boys, and my life there again. In this usage cocky is short for "cow-cocky" ... or, less alliteratively, "sheep cocky" ... is what we would call a property-owning farmer of, cattle ( ... cows ...) or sheep. In earlier days the expression was more likely for small landholders ... " selectors" who had taken up smaller parcels of land released by governments and councils - hoping to 'develop' their local areas. It was a joking reference to the suggestion that their only substantially crop or yield would be 'cockies' - predatory cockatoos raiding their crop seeds ... just ahead of the even more predatory rabbits that some English fool had imported in order to keep his hunting eye in fine fettle~! Regards! Bob -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: GUEST,Mark Gregory Date: 03 Jul 15 - 04:33 AM The earliest mention I have found of the song in Australian newspapers appeared in an advertisement for a concert in Sydney in 1851 The Sydney Morning Herald Monday 15 September 1851 p. 1. see http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12930347 part of which reads .... Gum-tree Canoe............. Mr. Nash …. Admission 2s. Tickets to be obtained at the Royal Hotel ; Masonic Hall, York - street ; Music Store, of Mr. Henry Marsh, 490½, George - street ; and at the door on the evening of performance. Doors open at a quarter-post 7 ; commence at 8 o'clock. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 03 Jul 15 - 09:32 PM another great find on TROVE |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: babypix Date: 04 Jul 15 - 12:43 PM 1847 version recorded by American Songster: Larry Hanks and Deborah Robins in their first duo album, "No Hiding Place". http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/hanksrobins |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: stevewise Date: 10 Nov 15 - 10:57 AM This seems to be the thread which refuses to die! I recently found the version of this recorded by Warren Fahey and the Larrikins on 'Limejuice and Vinegar' - available from here: http://australianfolk.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/warren-fahey-larrikins-limejuice-and.html The lyrics are as follows By ?? bonny river, in a hut I was born, Made out of thorns and wild yellow corn, Was there I met Julia, so fair and so true, And we went for a row in my gum-tree canoe. CHORUS: We will row, yes, we'll row Over the waters so blue Like a feather I'm a-floating My gum-tree canoe. With me hand on the banjo, me toe on the oar, I'll sing to my Julia, I'll sing as I row And the stars they shone down on my Julia, so true, On the night we rowed out in my Gum-tree canoe. Was for three solid days we sailed out on the bay, We could not get back, we were forced there to stay. Then we spied a large ship, flying the flag of true blue, And she took us in tow, in my gum-tree canoe. The liner notes say the following In 1973 Jim Cargill wrote me a letter asking me to visit him in his Randwick home – he had a song for my collection. Apparently Jim had heard a version of Gumtree Canoe sung by Shirley Jacobs on an ABC radio programme. Jim had learnt the song as a young man and he could recall additional verses to the song. Thanks to Jim Cargill we now have a complete text and traditional tune. Jim Cargill's original version can be heard on Bush Traditions (Larrikin Record LRF007) This raises a few questions 1. The words here are not quite the same in verses 1-3 as those in this thread from the Jim Cargill version, although most of the changes are slight. BTW - I cannot make out the second word - to me it sounds like 'On ron bonny river' 2. This version misses out verse 4 of the Cargill version. 3. If this version has additional verses to the Shirley Jacobs version - what did she sing? 4. I haven't found any reference to a recording of this by Shirley Jacobs although I haven't found track listings for all her recordings - did she record a version? 5. Does anyone have the actual Jim cargill recording referred to in these notes? steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gum Tree Canoe From: stevewise Date: 21 Nov 15 - 03:57 PM With reference to the discussion about the meaning of the last verse. I always wondered whether the reference to the 'flag of true blue' was a reference to either the confederacy or the union. Then I stumbled across a song called the Bonnie Blue Flag which is about the 'bonnie blue flag that bears a single star' - and which from the text of the song is clearly the confederate flag. So if this is true the two slaves are taken back to 'safety' by the slave-owning south! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gum Tree Canoe (Steele/Winnemore) From: GUEST,lem sheppard Date: 06 May 16 - 05:10 PM I learned the song as Gum Tree Canoe from Eva Jessye in about 1979 she was around 86 years old at that time and told me she learned it from her father who was from Tennessee. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gum Tree Canoe (Steele/Winnemore) From: GUEST,Twisted Bough Date: 25 Nov 16 - 08:23 PM Regarding the theory that the "flag of true blue" in the penultimate line of the song is the "Bonnie Blue Flag" of the Confederacy, those lyrics were apparently first published in 1847, while (according to Wikipedia and other historical sites) the "Bonnie Blue Flag" was not used by the Confederacy until the early months of 1861. So maybe there's still hope for the two folks in the gumtree canoe. Of course, they were still in slave country, unless the song harks back to before the War of 1812 and they had floated all the way down to the Spanish territory of coastal Alabama. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gum Tree Canoe (Steele/Winnemore) From: Joe Offer Date: 11 Mar 18 - 01:29 AM I'm having a hard time learning this song because the John Hartford version is quite different from other versions. This performance seems to use the more usual version of the tune, with references to Hartford's version: Can anyone point me to a video with a performance of a "definitive" and non-Hartford rendition of this song? -Joe- |
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