Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Dec 23 - 11:46 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Feb 14 - 12:42 PM

The book that was the source for Roland Palmer Gray (quoted above) can be viewed online at Google Books: Forest Life and Forest Trees by John S. Springer (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851); the song THE LOGGER'S BOAST begins on page 132, but there is no tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Jan 14 - 12:26 PM

Somewhat shorter and a few different verses:

"A-Lumbering We Go." Sung by Stanley Botting, British Columbia. Pp. 31-32, with musical score.
Edith Fowke, 1970, Lumbering Songs from the Northern Woods. American Folklore Society.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: radriano
Date: 20 Oct 00 - 12:25 PM

Great stuff, rich r! Thanks for posting it.

Subject: Lyr Add: ONCE MORE A-LUMBERING GO
From: raredance
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 08:27 PM

This 6 verse version of A-Lumbering is from E.C. Beck's "Lore of the Lumber Camps". He uses the same title as the title of this thread, but also says the song was known as "On The Tittabawassee". I certainly would not have found in the book if he had used the latter title. The Tittabawassee River is in Michigan that runs through the current city of Midland and flows into the Saginaw River a little upstream of the city of Saginaw. The Saginaw River empties into Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. (thread creep aside: Art Thieme has sung a song called "Tittabawassee Jane" that is not a logging camp song). The records of the Tittbawassie Boom Company show that in 1872 1,560,000 logs produced 310,216,263 board feet of lumber. In 1873 the figures were 1,978,282 logs and 343,430,239 board feet. The 1979 numbers were 3,183,431 longs and 455,383,030 board feet. In 1870 the bill for rope was $34,198.04. According to Beck a New YOrk musician once told the Michigan lumberjacks that the tune reminded him of "Rocky Road To Dublin". On to the lyrics.

ONCE MORE A-LUMBERING GO

Come all you sons of freedom that run the Saginaw stream,
Come all you roving lumber boys, And listen to my theme.
We'll cross the Tittabawassee, Where the mighty waters flow,
And we'll range the wildwoods over and once more a-lumbering go.

Chorus:
And once more a-lumbering go.
And we'll range the wildwoods over
And once more a-lumbering go.

When the white frost takes the valley, and the snow conceals the woods,
Each farmer has enough to do to earn the family food.
With the week no better pastime than to hunt the buck and doe,
And we'll range the wildwoods over and once more a-lumbering go.

CH

You may talk about your farms, your houses and fine ways,
And pity us poor shanty boys while dashing in our sleighs;
While round a good campfire at night we'll sing while the wild winds blow,
And we'll range the wildwoods over and once more a-lumbering go.

CH

With our axes on our shoulders we'll make the woods resound,
And many a tall and stately tree will come tumbling to the ground.
With our axes on our shoulders, to our boot tops deep in snow,
And we'll range the wildwoods over and once more a-lumbering go.

CH:

When navigation opens, and the waters run so free,
We'll drive our logs to Saginaw, then haste our girls to see.
They will welcome our return, and we'll in raptures flow;
And we'll range the wildwoods over and once more a-lumbering go.
And once more a-lumbering go.
And we'll stay with them through summer
And once more a-lumbering go.

When our youthful days are ended, and our jokes are getting long,
We'll take us each a little wife and settle on a farm.
We'll have enough to eat and drink, contented we will go;
And we'll tell our wives of our hard times and no more a-lumbering go.
And no more a-lumbering go.
We'll tell our wives of our hard times
And no more a-lumbering go.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 08:19 PM

Hey, Rich! I'll give you real money (at least a couple of bucks) for Rickaby and Gray! I'm working under a handicap here, having neither.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: raredance
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 07:45 PM

rad, There are no tunes in Gray's book. Fowke has a tune, which you know since you copied out Fowke's discussion of her hybrid version. A technical correction to my post above is that in the Fowke hybrid version only verses 3-5 correspond to "Bung Your Eye". Verse 6 in Fowke which is really only 2 lines or half a verse doesn't seem to be in other versions of either song. For the record "Bung Yer Eye" is found in Rickaby as a separate song, but the words are identical to the three verses in Fowke's "A-Lumbering We'll Go" except that each verse ends with the line:
"Bung yer eye! bung yer eye!"

"Bung Yer Eye" (Fowke uses "your", the others use "yer") is also printed in both of E.C Beck's books, "Lore of the Lumber Camps" (1948 University of MIchigan Press) and "They Knew Paul Bunyan" (1956 Univ. Michigan Press). Beck has two versions, one identical to the Rickaby & Fowke verses, and a second with some name changes. I suppose I should start a separate "Bung Yer Eye" for that. The title should generate a spate of sarcasm if nothing else.

Back to "A Lumbering We'll Go", I found another version and I will be back with that as soon as I type it in.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: radriano
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 12:06 PM

Rich r, what is the melody given for "The Logger's Boast" in Gray's book?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: radriano
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 12:04 PM

You're quite right, rich r. Here are the notes in Edith Fowke's book:

Notes from Lumbering Songs of the North Woods: "A-Lumbering We Go" is an interesting welding of two old woods songs. The first two stanzas come from an eight-stanza Maine song originally known as "The Logger's Boast," which was first printed in 1851 and later spread to New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The rest comes from a quite different song usually identified as "Bung Your Eye." Both are rare in tradition, though they have often been reprinted. Stanley Botting said he learned the song from an Ontario lumberman named Charlie McLaughlin. It is possible that Mr. McLaughlin got it from The Blazed Trail, by Steward Edward White, where the two stanzas of "The Logger's Boast" and the three stanzas of "Bung Your Eye" are given seperately but in almost exactly this form.


Richard

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 11:54 AM

shold be "throughout" in Michigan line

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: raredance
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 12:59 AM

NOte that Chirs Shaw's extra verse is clearly derived from the version printed by Gray. Franz Rickaby in "Ballads and Songs of the Shantey-Boy" (1926 Harvard Univ Press) contains a regionalized version of the first verse and a somewhat different set of words corresponding to verse 6 in Gray.

Come all ye sons of freedom throught old Michigan<
Come all ye gallant lumbermen, list to a shanty-man.
On the banks of the Muskegon, where the rapid waters flow
O! we'll range the wildwoods o'er while a-lumbering we go.

When spring it does come and our ice-bound streams are free,
We will drive our logs to market our southern friends to see.
Our sweethearts they will welcome us, their eyes with rapture glow;
We'll spend the summer with them and again a-lumbering go.

Edith Fowke in "Lumbering Songs of the North Woods" (1970 American Folklore Society) includs a song "A-Lumbering We Go" which is actually a composite song. The first verse is the same as the Michigan verse from Rickaby (above). the second verse is the "music of our burnished ax" verse from the Gray text. The last four verses are from a totally different song called "Bung Your Eye"

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LOGGER'S BOAST (from Springer, 1851)
From: raredance
Date: 19 Oct 00 - 12:34 AM

The following version is from "Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks" by Roland Palmer Gray (1925 Harvard Univ. Press). It provides another fine example of the risk of trying to find a song by it's title. Gray states that this version was published in 1851 in "Forest Life and Forest Trees" by Springer and is modeled on the more familiar "A Hunting We Will Go"

THE LOGGER'S BOAST

Come all ye sons of freedom throughout the State of Maine,
Come, al ye gallant lumbermen, and listen to my strain;
On the banks of the Penobscot, where the rapid waters flow,
O! we'll range the wild woods over, and a lumbering will go;
    And a lumbering we'll go, so a lumbering will go,
    O! we'll range the wild woods over while a lumbering we go.

When the white frost gilds the valleys, the cold congeals the flood;
When many men have naught to do to earn their families bread;
When the swollen streams are frozen, and the hills are clad with snow,
O! we'll range the wild woods over and a lumbering will go;
    etc.

When you pass through the dense city, and pity all you meet,
To hear their teeth chattering as they hurry down the street;
In the red frost-proof flannel we're incased from top to toe,
While we range the wild woods over, and a lumbering we go:
    etc.

You may boast of your gay parties, your pleasures, and your plays
And pity us poor lumbermen while dashing in your sleighs;
We want no better pastime than to chase the buck and doe;
O! we'll range the wild woods over, and a lumbering we will go;
    etc.

The music of our burnished ax shall make the woods resound,
And many a lofty ancient Pine will tumble to the ground:
As night, ho! round our good camp-fire we will sing while the rude winds blow:
O! we'll range the wild woods over, and a lumbering we will go;
    etc.

When winter's snows are melted and the ice-bound streams are free,
We'll run our logs to market, then haste our friends to see;
How kindly true hearts welcome us, our wives and children too,
We will spend with these the summer and once more a lumbering go:
    etc.

And when upon the long-hid soil the white Pines disappear,
We will cut the other forest trees, and sow whereon we clear;
Our grain shall wave o'er valleys rich, our herds bedot the hills,
When our feet no more are hurried on to tend the driving mills;
    Then no more a lumbering go, so no more a lumbering go,
    When our feet no more are hurried on to tend the driving mills.

When our youthful days are ended, we will cease from winter toils,
And each one through the summer warm will till the virgin soil;
We've enough to eat, to drink, to wear, content through life to go,
Then we'll tell our wild adventures o'er and no more a lumbering go;
    etc.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 11:34 PM

Lawrence Older's record is one I've enjoyed many times over many years, Sandy. Thanks for bringing it to us.

All the best,
Dan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 11:00 PM

The Digitrad version is from Lawrence Older's Folk-Legacy recording, recorded by yours truly in Lawrence's living room in Middle Grove, NY. I think Chris Shaw's added verse is one of his own creation. Not bad at all! If anyone is interested in Lawrence's Older's traditional songs and ballads of the Adirondacks, check out our web site (CLICK HERE) and go to "custom" (custom cassettes). Several fine Child ballads, plus other regional material. Good stuff!

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Midchuck
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 01:54 PM

Imagine living such a life style that your idea of the ultimate good time was to go to Glens Falls....I'd rather die...

Peter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Dharmabum
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 01:53 PM

Christopher Shaw does this version on his Adirondack cd with one additional verse.

When our useful days are over
And our stories all grow old
We'll take to us each man a wife
And settle on a farm
With plenty to eat & plenty to drink
Contented we will go
And we'll tell our wives of hard times
And no more a lumberin go.

Ron.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: radriano
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 01:42 PM

Same song, Barbara. I thought I had checked Digitrad for this. My apologies. Another senior moment for me.

Richard

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Once More A-Lumbering Go
From: Barbara
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 01:34 PM

It's not this one, RA? ONCE MORE A-LUMBERING GO This has a chorus, tho I guess you call the repeated last line of the verse a refrain, right?
I think I see what happened. It was one of those spelling tricks computers play on people: I searched 'Saranac' rather than 'lumbERing' or 'lumbRing'. Ain't computers wonderful? Or as Our Founder Dick Greenhaus says, "Never search the title as there's usually too many ways of spelling it."
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Once More A-Lumbering Go ^^^
From: radriano
Date: 18 Oct 00 - 01:17 PM

I'm not sure where this is from but it's not in Digitral in any case. Digitral has "A Lumbering We Go" which is a another version of essentially the same song but without a chorus.


ONCE MORE A-LUMBRING GO


Come all you sons of freedom, who 'round the mountains range
Come all you jolly lumber boys, and listen to my song
By the banks of the sweet Saranac
Where its limpid waters flow

Chorus:
We'll range the wild woods over and once more a-lumbering go
And once more a-lumbering go
We'll range the wild woods over and once more a-lumbering go

To the music of our axes we'll make the woods resound
And many a tall and lofty pine come tumbling to the ground
At night 'round our good campfires
We'll sing while cold winds blow, and (chorus)
You may ask about your parties, your parties and your plays
But pity us poor lumber boys go jouncing on our sleighs
But we ask no better pastime
Then to hunt the buck and doe, and (chorus)

When winter it is over, and ice-bound streams are free
We'll drive our logs to Glens Falls, and we'll haste the girls to see
With plenty to eat and plenty to drink
Back to the world we'll go, and (chorus)
^^^