Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)

Subject: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: Margot
Date: 12 Dec 99 - 10:43 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics and recording info on this song (not exactly sure of the correct title). The start of the chorus was "Hold my coat, give me a rock, I'm from Jacquet River", reference to a town in New Brunswick. I remember hearing it played on AM radio in the 1970s growing up in NB. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 08:34 PM

refresh. This sounds intriguing.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: Willie-O
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 11:30 PM

I've got a buddy from Miramichi New Brunswick who has quoted me that line many times. I'll ask him if he's got the rest of the words...tomorrow.

(Anything to get out of doing any work.)

Bill C

p.s. somehow this may be the kind of request that inspires a few persons to post short pithy comments about "why on earth do you want these lyrics." Pay no attention.

;>=

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: Susan A-R
Date: 13 Dec 99 - 11:34 PM

Not me, I'm checking to see if anything comes up. I am duly intrigued.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 06:47 PM

OK, boys and girls...the trail seems to have gone cold for these lyrics...I am a Miramichi girl, myself, and often quote these lyrics when I want to be pithy, and I well remember the 'tune' to this chorus opening...no leads as to where this came from? We didn't imagine it...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: GUEST,Lynzy
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 08:43 PM

Hold my coat, give me a rock, I'm from Jacquet River, I can bring a grizzly to its knees...

That's all I remember but I would recognize the name of the singer if I heard it. CKBY in Ottawa played it all the time in the 1970s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 08 - 11:08 PM

I was passing by the winfield hotel one saturday night Ringing that old go to meeting bell

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: GUEST,Lynzy
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 10:30 PM

The song "Jacket River" was written and sung by Ray Griff from Calgary and Winfield Alberta.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: meself
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 02:14 AM

but "Hold my coat, give me a rock, I'm from Calgary and Winfield Alberta" just doesn't have the same ring to it ...


Seriously though, would love to get more on this song. Don't know where or when I heard it, and had forgotten its existence ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: meself
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 02:28 AM

Here's the man's website. No lyrics there, though.

He's had quite a career in the music biz.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: Barbara
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 12:30 PM

And, from the looks of the website, you can have the tune and or the words for a price, just as you can have anything else of the man's -- though I don't see him offering his BVDs -- yet --- for the right price.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: GUEST,DATADOG
Date: 15 Nov 08 - 12:35 PM

JACKET RIVER

I WAS PASSIN BY THE WINDFIELD HOTEL
ONE SATURDAY NIGHT
RINGIN THAT OL GO TO MEETIN BELL
WHEN MY EARS PICKED UP WHAT SOUNDED LIKE
THE MAKINS OF A FIGHT
COMIN FROM THE BAR IN THE HOTEL
JUST ABOUT THAT TIME
THE DOOR SWUNG WIDE
AND SOAKED IN BEER AND SWEAT
A DOZEN LUMBER JACKS CAME OUT TO PLAY
I WAS SOMEWHERE ROUND THE AGE OF 10
BUT I DID NOT FORGET
THOSE WORDS I HEARD BIG SHERMAN BECKER SAY

HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
I CAN BRING A GRIZZLY TO IT'S KNEES
HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
THAT ROUGH AND ROWDY LIFE WAS MADE FOR ME

I WAS DRIVIN TRUCK AND HAULIN GRAVEL
DOWN TO PEA HAUL'S PLACE
AT SEVENTEEN I WAS SOME KIND OF SIGHT
BUT RAYMOND FENWICK
NEVER SHOULD HAVE CALLED ME BABYFACE
I SPOKE THESE WORDS
THE I TURNED OUT HIS LIGHTS

HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
I CAN BRING A GRIZZLY TO IT'S KNEES
HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
THAT ROUGH AND ROWDY LIFE WAS MADE FOR ME

I WAS TWENTY ONE AND BETTY HANSON
WAS MY FAVORITE QUEEN
I LOOKED AT HER
WITH EYES THAT DID ADORE
WE WERE DANCIN WHEN SOME LOUD MOUTH
STARTED SAYIN THINGS OBSCENE
I WARNED HIM ONCE
THEN LAID HIM ON THE FLOOR

HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
I CAN BRING A GRIZZLY TO IT'S KNEES
HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
THAT ROUGH AND ROWDY LIFE WAS MADE FOR ME

HOLD MY COAT GIMME A ROCK
I'M FROM JACKET RIVER
THAT ROUGH AND ROWDY LIFE WAS MADE FOR ME

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Nov 08 - 03:21 PM

Winfield is west of Pigeon Lake, west of Edmonton, Alberta. The nearest bar is in Rimbey, 23 miles.
Don't know of of a Jacket River in Alberta.

There is a Jaquet River in New Brunswick. Also a few miles to a watering hole.

Ray Griff was born in Vancouver. No idea of what area he was talking about.

Subject: Lyr Add: JACKET RIVER (Ray Griff)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Nov 08 - 05:56 PM

Here are the lyrics tidied up a bit:


JACKET RIVER
Ray Griff

I was passin' by the Winfield Hotel one Saturday night
Ringin' that ol' go-to-meetin' bell
When my ears picked up what sounded like the makin's of a fight
Comin' from the bar in the hotel.

Just about that time the door swung wide and soaked in beer and sweat
A dozen lumberjacks came out to play.
I was somewhere round the age of ten but I did not forget
Those words I heard big Sherman Becker say:

CHORUS: Hold my coat. Gimme a rock. I'm from Jacket River.
I can bring a grizzly to its knees.
Hold my coat. Gimme a rock. I'm from Jacket River.
That rough and rowdy life was made for me.

I was drivin' truck and haulin' gravel down to Pea Haul's place.
At seventeen I was some kind of sight,
But Raymond Fenwick never should have called me baby face.
I spoke these words, then I turned out his lights: CHORUS

I was twenty-one and Betty Hanson was my favorite queen.
I looked at her with eyes that did adore.
We were dancin' when some loudmouth started sayin' things obscene.
I warned him once, then laid him on the floor. CHORUS

Hold my coat. Gimme a rock. I'm from Jacket River.
That rough and rowdy life was made for me.


[Sung by Ray Griff on "Canada, My Native Land", Focus, 1991.

[At Ray Griff's web site, he uses the spelling "Jacket River" although I suspect he means Jacquet River, "a Canadian rural community in Restigouche County, New Brunswick."]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Hold My Coat, Give Me A Rock'
From: meself
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 03:28 AM

Does anyone have any particular reason to suppose that he's referring to Jacquet River, N.B.? From what's on his website, he doesn't seem to have any Maritime connection, and the song also mentions the Winfield Hotel, which would presumably be a reference to Winfield, Alberta - even if, as Q says, it doesn't have a bar ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Jim hayes
Date: 07 Feb 09 - 10:30 PM

Griff may have written the lyrics but the reference and line came from
Ted Daigle a brilliant entertainer from his youth - terrific singer and played a fine guitar.
Ted was from Jacquet River and moved to Bathurst where he began his radio career. He moved on to Ottawa and became an announceer and station manager at CKOY and launched a very successful career in country music with a huge audience in Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley.

He was a smart kid in school but distracted to become a singer, musican and entertainer. A pro even in grade five.   Regards, Mac

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,i am from jacket river newbrunswick donald
Date: 31 May 09 - 08:21 PM

this tune was made a bout a place called jacket river but sorry to say it is not from newbrunswick it is from qubec sigh i know but we all still say it is about are town and ya it realy did happen going to do a intenc search i am hot on the trail

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 04:46 PM

They play this song regularly on the Listiguch radio station (Near Campbelton). I have not been up that way in a while, but I am 99% sure the version they play has a spoken intro which makes direct reference to Jacket River, NB.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,KOKO
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 08:58 AM

Someone record the song or something and post it on youtube!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Catherine in Kingston
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:27 PM

My mother was born in Jacquet River, NB in 1931 and recalls there was a rock throwing incident involving a train which gained the little farming village notoriety. It may have been in the newspapers at the time if anyone cares to investigate further.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Marc Caron
Date: 06 May 10 - 02:07 PM

You tube link to song.

Jacquet River

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Jan 11 - 08:33 PM

they play this the other night on the golden classic. on the bathurst nb station

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,D.S.
Date: 01 Oct 11 - 09:00 PM

I figured it out. Ray Griff was a friend of a man from Jacquet River, NB by the name of Ted Daigle. Ted Daigle was a country and western performer turned radio personality. He spent much of his radio career in the Ottawa area, which may explain why one in ottawa would here it on the radio.. Griff was likely writing about the places he's been (Alberta, BC) and using Jacquet River, NB for the song title. Perhaps Ted relayed a few stories from J.R. too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 10 Apr 13 - 11:36 PM

It is about Alberta. I'm related to the Sherman Becker in the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,the beach..
Date: 03 May 13 - 01:28 PM

hi if we listen to the song carefully, ray griff speaks about his friend ted daigle and jacquet river, i am also a rock thrower from jacquet river.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 11:00 PM

During a long ago strike in Murdochville, Quebec , a mining town, the miners from Jacquet River, N.B. were known as the Jacquet river stone throwers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Pius Noel
Date: 08 Mar 14 - 01:53 PM

I'm from jacquet river and i like that song also Iam playing and singing it right now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Gr
From: GUEST,wade shannon
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 07:18 PM

i thought about this.there are no grizzlys in newbrunswick.but there is in jacquetriver britishcolmbia.by de wey hold my coat i am! from jacquetriver n.b eh!!! i like it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Jimmy Harvey
Date: 12 Oct 18 - 10:21 AM

I heard this song in the early 70 as I worked in Alberta and Heard Ray Griff speak on a radio show back then that he was referring to Jacket River in BC ??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,Guest guest
Date: 24 May 19 - 11:27 PM

The bar in the Winfield Hotel in Alberta was a rough place where lumberjacks used to go for a couple of drinks after work, Sherman Becker, was a tough guy, who used to get into the odd tussle. The rock, was to put into his fist so he could hit harder, like using a roll of dimes. Grampa Sherman wasn’t really from Jacket River, but it fits better than Buck Lake...

Honestly I think Griff wrote this about all the hard working miners, lumberjacks, rig pigs you worked hard, drank hard, and played hard and fought hard all over the place in small towns across the country.

I never got to know Grampa Sherman he died young in a car accident, but I imagine him telling me stories about being a young man living a hard life.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Sep 23 - 07:02 PM

I was born in the mountains of the Gaspé in a mining town , I grew up with many kids from northern NB , Dalhousie, Campbellton, DunDee, Lorn,Jacket River , Charlow , eel river crossing, etc. it was a song or part of a song the kids would repeat often in the early Sixties “ hold my coat give me a rock I’m from Jacket River and let me tell you I learned that the hard way. If you were ever in a rock fight , buddy , I had a kid my age move next door who out of the blue started throwing small sharp stones at me as i walked past , it felt like I was being stung by hornets , I had to run away, next a while later it happened again, this time I turned and ran towards him but in the midst of his rapid fire , and may I add he never missed once ‘ I couldn’t with stand the impacts I stoped and ran out of range only to see him dance in victory . Still I didn’t understand why he was doing this to me , I didn’t even know him . One day a repeat of the time before but this time I took the pain and continued my charge and he was taken off guard that I didn’t stop coming and he dropped the rocks to run home with me hot on his tail, I cought him at the door to his house and the beginning of his lesson ensured on consequences of his action , his mom opened the door to the ruckus and yelled at me , I told her what her son was up to and I’m sure this sounded all to familiar and grabbed him and hauled him into the house , as I left I could hear him getting another lesson lol. So regarding this song “Jacket River “ in my experience we are most likely talking about New Brunswick . How the singer came across the material or from who I don’t know but what I just stated is what I do know . Lol , and in that time early 1960s from what I remember the reputation was well know of Jacket River

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Sep 23 - 07:02 PM

I was born in the mountains of the Gaspé in a mining town , I grew up with many kids from northern NB , Dalhousie, Campbellton, DunDee, Lorn,Jacket River , Charlow , eel river crossing, etc. it was a song or part of a song the kids would repeat often in the early Sixties “ hold my coat give me a rock I’m from Jacket River and let me tell you I learned that the hard way. If you were ever in a rock fight , buddy , I had a kid my age move next door who out of the blue started throwing small sharp stones at me as i walked past , it felt like I was being stung by hornets , I had to run away, next a while later it happened again, this time I turned and ran towards him but in the midst of his rapid fire , and may I add he never missed once ‘ I couldn’t with stand the impacts I stoped and ran out of range only to see him dance in victory . Still I didn’t understand why he was doing this to me , I didn’t even know him . One day a repeat of the time before but this time I took the pain and continued my charge and he was taken off guard that I didn’t stop coming and he dropped the rocks to run home with me hot on his tail, I cought him at the door to his house and the beginning of his lesson ensured on consequences of his action , his mom opened the door to the ruckus and yelled at me , I told her what her son was up to and I’m sure this sounded all to familiar and grabbed him and hauled him into the house , as I left I could hear him getting another lesson lol. So regarding this song “Jacket River “ in my experience we are most likely talking about New Brunswick . How the singer came across the material or from who I don’t know but what I just stated is what I do know . Lol , and in that time early 1960s from what I remember the reputation was well know of Jacket River

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jacket River / Jacquet River? (Ray Griff)
From: GUEST,C F
Date: 28 Dec 23 - 10:20 PM

If anybody has any doubts about which Jacquet River this song is about go to Youtube and search for "Lyle Dillabough interviews Ted Daigle". Ted Daigle is originally from Jacquet River N.B. and he was a famous radio announcer and musician who told Ray Griff about the place where he was from. Although the names don't match, it definitely originated from the rough lifestyle of Jacquet River N.B. back in the day.