Ballad of the Merry Ferry -songs of the Northwest

Subject: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 01:54 AM

Bob Nelson (Deckman) posted the following on another thread:

I've been eating fish exclusively
Since living living on my claim
And such vittals ain't the kind I like the best
For down in my insides, I can feel the rising tide
In my little old log cabin on the claim

CHORUS

Oh, the door is made of driftwood
The windows have no glass
The board roof lets the howling blizzard in
Hark I hear the GOEDUCK, as he nestles in the muck
In my little old log cabin on the claim

John [Dwyer], if you're a mudcatter, how about jumping in here and adding stuff. CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

There are lots of great Northwestern songs that he used to sing, Old Settler Song (Acres of Clams) being about the earliest I remember. The title of the thread is actually the name of a poem by Emma Rounds that he liked and put to music. He wrote original songs about the Pig War on San Juan Island, and about the Blue Canyon mining disaster in Whatcom County, I think both were his own tunes. I'm sure I don't need to post a blue clicky thing for the Old Settler--that tune is Rosen the Bow. But is the song Bob posted available somewhere at Mudcat? I have the tune in my head, but that won't get it to this site in any meaningful way. (No osmosis, or communication without benefit of hardware, as has been discussed on another recent thread). This Ferry song was so appropriate to the Northwest (but probably originated someplace else). And then there is the classic, Frozen Logger, fake-song or folk-song, it's a wonderful slice of Northwest humor. What else is out there that people really enjoy singing, that fits best in the Pacific Northwest?

Old Settler:

I've wandered all over this country
Prospecting and digging for gold
I've tunneled, hydrolicked, and cradled,
And I have been frequently sold.

Frozen Logger:

As I sat down one evening
Twas in a small cafe
A 40-year old waitress
To me these words did say:

I see you are a logger
And not just a common bum
For no one but a logger
Stirs his coffee with his thumb

These have you humming the rest, don't they, if you're from the Northwest?

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Haruo
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:14 AM

I think Rosin is actually a person, not sticky stuff for violinists, and the tune should accordingly be spelt "Old Rosin the Beau". (Pedant! [raps knuckles])

Incidentally, there's an old Sedro-Woolley poem that is traditional in my family, that I wonder if there's a tune for. It starts

On the banks of the mighty Skagit,
In the haunts of the Siwash and slug,
Some time in the early 'eighties
Rose a brisk little town called Bug...

Anybody?

Liland
with apologies to any offended by "Siwash" in this context

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:30 AM

Liland,

I won't worry about the knuckle rapping on Rosin/Rosen if you'll take the hyphen out of Sedro Woolley! (grin)

A lot of the names of things I learned phonetically as a kid, and never saw in print. This could be one of them. A hilarious example of this was the Ezra Pound "Winter is a Cumin In" parody (and I don't have a CLUE as to how to spell it without it becoming a seasoning). He has a line "ague hath my ham" and I understand it perfectly as an adult. But as a child, and well-versed with Dr. Suess, it sounded to my ears like "egg, you hath my ham" and almost made some kind of sense. A friend who is a medieval scholar nearly broke something laughing so hard when I make a remark about this apparent nonsense line in that Pound poem (that I'd never seen written, just heard sung).

It's like I grew up speaking the music or folksong language, but stopped speaking it when I went off to college, so I never gained the adult syntax and meanings to things I filled in with my imagination as a child. I don't post to the list very often for that very reason. It's too easy to put my foot in it!

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:32 AM

Hi, Maggie--
That song of your dad's is a variant of Little Old Sod Shanty on My Claim. The entry in the Digital Tradition has a link to the tune. Hope that helps!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Haruo
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:36 AM

I wondered if you (or anyone) would catch that hyphen. It was deliberate. The pedantic side of me would justify it on the grounds that when an attributive adjective is made from a noun phrase, the constituents are properly linked by a hyphen. (In other words, "I like chocolate milk" but "Her skin was of a chocolate-milk complexion".) However, the poem in question provides a different justification, since it dates from a time (presumably the 1920's—or 1920s if you want to quibble about the apostrophe ;-) when Sedro[-]Woolley was normally a hyphenated name; the last stanza is

So they formally buried the hatchet
And henceforth all was serene.
The two became Sedro-Woolley,
With only a hyphen between.

Seriously.

Liland

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:49 AM

Liland, Touché! Aren't you lucky I stumbled onto that so quickly, so you could spring your trap and not agonize that no one got the hyphen! ;-D I am going by the postmark (I lived out at Lake Whatcom for years, and was served by the Sedro Woolley post office).

Mark, yes, that's the tune I had going in my head. I knew it was a parody of the sod shanty song, just hadn't taken the time to mull over the correct full name of it. In a similar vein, I love the transformation that Beulah Land makes when it arrives in the Northwest. I have a tape of Barre Tolken singing a version of it in a concert many years ago.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:55 AM

P.S.--that wasn't meant to sound churlish, Liland. Your lacuna is my interstice. (BG)

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 07:00 AM

The varient of "Little old Log Cabin On The Claim" was taught to me by John Ashford, back in the fifties. His Father (Paul?) was a song collector of some note. Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 07:25 AM

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

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:02 PM

Back when I was a kid I thought that waitress was ancient. . . just goes to show you how wrong one can be! (A few years ago, back when we still subscribed to Playboy magazine, they ran an issue with a photoessay of women all over forty. I kept it for inspiration! Some of those 40- and 50-years olds were in darned good shape, something to aspire to!)

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:22 PM

Stilly River Sage:

Here's the spellings you lacked for at least the first two lines of the famous Old English (or is it Middle?) poem:

Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cucu!

to which I like to refer, when it's getting really chilly in early winter:

Winter is icumen in
Lhude sing pen-guin!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:07 PM

Dave,

Pound's poem is:

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!

Sing: Goddamm.

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.

Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.

Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,

So 'gainst the winter's balm.

Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:09 PM

Oops. Using the "ul" to make indents seems to have also given large line spaces. But you get the idea.

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:38 PM

Please forgive me for dipping into the "memoir" once again:—

----------------------------------------------------

       During the early Forties my mother and my two sisters, Mary and Pat rose early on Sunday mornings to go to the Civic Ice Arena for figure skating lessons and practice sessions. Dad and I got up later, ate breakfast, and listened to a local fellow on the radio who played the guitar, sang songs, and told stories about the Pacific Northwest. He talked about Pacific Northwest history and folklore, and he had guests on his program, like James Stevens, the Northwest writer and collector of Paul Bunyan stories.
       Dad grew up on San Juan Island. He loved the islands, the forests, the mountains, the water. He especially loved fishing, or just getting out on the water in a boat. When the fellow on the radio spun tales about "stump ranchers" and early settlers who survived so long on a diet of clams that their stomachs rose and fell with the tide, Dad knew the kind of people he was talking about.
       The fellow on the radio swiftly became something of a local character. He owned an aquarium on the Seattle waterfront. He invited everyone to come down to Pier 54, foot of Madison Street, and see Pat the Seal. For a mere nickel, you could come inside and gaze in amazement at live octopi, clams, scallops, sea urchins, and many other wonders and marvels from the dark and mysterious depths of Puget Sound. Soon he expanded. He opened a seafood bar next door to the aquarium. Clams were his specialty. He particularly pushed clam nectar. Although he made no actual therapeutic claims for the stuff, he did say that any married man who wanted a second helping of clam nectar had to bring a note from his wife.
       His singing voice was a light tenor, and he accompanied himself by playing occasional chords on the guitar. He sounded a little like Burl Ives. The theme song he sang for his radio program was The Old Settler's Song, which contains the verse

No longer the slave of ambition
I laugh at the world and its shams,
As I think of my happy condition
Surrounded by acres of clams.

       When he opened a full-service seafood restaurant at the site of the seafood bar (which is still there) and the aquarium (which is not), he took the last three words of the song as the name of the restaurant. Many seafood restaurants were to follow, including The Captain's Table, The Salmon House, and what appears to be the start of a chain of drive-in restaurants à la Colonel Chicken—but featuring seafood, of course.
       Ivar Haglund is gone now, but his first restaurant is still there, on Pier 54, foot of Madison Street:
       Ivar's "Acres of Clams."

----------------------------------------------------

Listening to Ivar Haglund's Sunday morning radio program when I was pre-pubescent was one of my first introductions to folk music. Although much of what Ivar sang was pretty light stuff, such as All Hail the Happy Toredo (a toredo is a marine worm that eats hell out of the hulls of wooden ships) and stuff loaded with local puns, he did occasionally sing something of genuine historical or musical interest. He was considered by many (himself included) to be Seattle's "resident folksinger," although to my knowledge, he never gave any concerts, sang in any clubs, or made any records: just his radio program in the Forties and, later, on commercials for his seafood restaurants. Nor did he participate in any way in the Folk Revival when it hit this area. In fact, he seemed to studiously avoid the folk scene. Too bad. He could have been a lot of fun and a real resource, but he chose not to be.

A few years after he was a guest on my television program (!!), I ran into him again, oddly enough, at one of his own restaurants—the cocktail lounge in The Captain's Table—where he had a folksinger named Nagle Jackson performing. I went to hear Nagle, and when Nagle and I were talking after his last set and just as the place was about to close, Ivar walked in. He, Nagle, and I sat at one of the tables in the lounge and passed Nagle's guitar around and sang at each other for about an hour. Ivar knew some good stuff, but he wasn't very inclined to share it.

Often wondered what became of Nagle Jackson. He was pretty good, but he was primarily an actor. Last I heard of him was years ago. He was acting at the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

As Ivar used to say, "Keep clam."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 05:08 PM

Don,

Other Northwestern television personalities who had great voices were Stan Boreson and Don McCune. How do they fit into your memories of those days? Right before dinnertime I always watched Stan Boreson but my brother wanted to watch Captain Puget. We took turns every other day watching each program. (Neither of us had the time of day for J.P. Patches).

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 05:10 PM

P.S. Ivar used to turn up on McCune's program all of the time, and he used to sing. Maybe he just saved it for the kids?

Maggie

Subject: Lyr Add: ROLL ON, COLUMBIA (Woody Guthrie)
From: Deckman
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 05:32 PM

Another great Northwest anthem is this gem written by Woody, about 1940:


ROLL ON, COLUMBIA

Green Douglas firs where the waters cut through,
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew,
Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS: Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

At Bonneville now there are ships in the locks.
The waters have risen and cleared all the rocks.
Shiploads of plenty will steam past the docks.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

Other great rivers add power to you:
The Yakima, Snake, and the Klickitat too,
Sandy, Willamette, and the Hood River too.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

And on up the river is Grand Coulee Dam,
The biggest thing built by the hand of a man,
To run the great factories and water the land.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.


Don, do you remember when you and Patti and I sang this at the Seattle Yacht Club? Cheers, Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 10:04 PM

The Seattle Yacht Club? I remember singing there, but I'm afraid I remember it only vaguely. Was that the time we sat around in the cocktail lounge and got thoroughly crocked before we were due to sing?

Yeah, Maggie, I do remember Stan Boreson. He sang a lot of parodies, usually in a broad Scandinavian accent. I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas, Valking in my Vinter Undervear, and a thing called (harking to another thread on fish-tossing) Lutefisk, Oh Lutefisk to the tune of Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum. He's still at it. I saw him on the tube a few weeks ago, doing a commercial, complete with Scandihoovian accent and accordion.

Don Firth

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 10:36 PM

I have a cassette of Boreson singing a number of those. Do you remember McCune? When you think about it, there were a lot of folks singing on television in Seattle in the 1950's and 1960's.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 10:53 PM

I remember Don McCune (sp?) well. He was Capt. Puget. He's one of the few that I never made a point of knowing. I always wanted too, he was very approachable, but I never got around to it ... darn. He passed away about ten years ago, as I recall. Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 11:15 PM

Yes, he died some time ago. KOMO (tv), where he worked for all of those years, made some kind of special about his environmental work, and my mom taped it and sent me a copy. His specials were kind of like home-grown Lowell Thomas travelogues.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: artbrooks
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:05 AM

I recall Ivar's restaurant had all of the verses to "Acres of Clams" printed on the placemats. On the list of ought-to-be Northwest songs, how about "Slug by Slug, Weed by Weed". I can recall buying black and white beer expressly for the purpose of drowning them.

Subject: Lyr Add: CLE ELLUM GIRL
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 11:15 AM

Here's a song that I doubt has ever been written down anywhere. I learned it from the singing of the late Walt Robertson. It's not a traditional folk song, but if obscurity counts, it qualifies. It was written by a lady who I only know by her first name, "Nancy." Later today, I'll get in touch with Don Firth, I believe he knows her last name. Perhaps he can tell the story behind the song. To me, this sad ballad has always touched me. I sing it, just to myself. At the moment, I don't know how to help you with the melody. It's called "Cle Elum Girl." Cle Elum is a small mountain town, just East of the summit of Snoqualimie Pass, in Eastern Washington.

CLE ELLUM GIRL

Cle Elum girl, where is your home,
Why do you still roam?

Well, when I was a little girl
Lived on my Daddy's farm
If I'da stayed where I was born,
I'd never come to harm

Many courtin' boys came by my door
Just to see what they could see
With pretty songs to turn my head
And pretty toys for me.

They took me down into the town
Danced 'till the break of day
And what I gave them in return
Seemed a little price to pay

But promises and lies don't last
So I left my home
Now I'm a poor Cle Ellum whore
No place left to roam.

Cle Elum girl, hang down your head
Cry when the night is down

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 12:16 PM

Bob,

Cle Elum was a town that had (past tense!) the unfortuate reputation for a high volume of prostitution. I always understood this had to do with its being in the heart of an area of solitary resource extraction--mining and logging. The lonely miners and loggers would roll into town, and apparently when they were back in the mountains applied many hooker's names to the Alpine Lakes area of the Cascades. I learned about this when I worked for the Forest Service in Seattle in the mid-1970's on the land exchange team that established the land for the wilderness area. I saw the old maps with the original names. Some of them were changed, others cleaned up. Somewhere back there is a waterfall with a sweet name now (hence, I can't remember it) that used to be called Cunt Falls--now that's memorable! Sheesh. . . bet this can wrench the thread into a different topic. . . but it's still on the Pacific Northwest theme! ;-D

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:08 PM

Gee Maggie ... That's really neat ... more answers to questions I never asked! Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From:
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:59 PM

Last Sept at the wooden boat festival in Port Townsend I remember seeing a booth featuring tapes of Capt.Puget, Don McCunes' music. Was in a hurry at the time,so couldn't stop and peruse. Also heard some good maritime - shantey type songs coming from the beer tent.

Interesting information re: Cle Elum. Mike

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 04:34 PM

Cle Elum Girl.

Maggie has Cle Elum pretty well nailed. Rough town in the early days, fairly nice little community now. It's about eighty miles east of Seattle, in the Cascade Mountains, just to the east of Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90. It's only a couple of miles from Roslyn, the little mining town that stood in for Cicely, Alaska in Northern Exposure.

Nancy-Lu Patterson (née Gellerman; she graduated from Roosevelt High School a year before I did) was a, tall, willowy, beautiful young woman with long, flowing light-brown hair. She possessed a bundle of undifferentiated talent that she could focus on just about anything she chose and everything she turned her hand to, she did well. Bob, I'm sure, remembers the mural on the huge (about 4' by 20') sheet of paper that was used as the backdrop for the Pacific Northwest Folklore Society booth at the big, city-wide arts, crafts, and hobbies fair at the Hec Edmondson Pavilion in 1953 (this was the first time Bob Nelson and I met). Nancy-Lu painted that. In a style appropriate for a cartoon poster, she depicted scenes from four or five folk songs. I can't remember what all she did, but I think it showed Sweet William on his death bed as he died of love for the haughty Barbara Allen, complete with intertwined rose and brier; a reclining cowboy with comrades gathered 'round from The Streets of Laredo; and a couple ships firing smoky broadsides at each other from Henry Martin or any of a number of pirate songs and sea ballads. The one that drew the most attention was The Foggy Foggy Dew, but I'll just let your imagination play with that one.

Sometime in the very late Forties or very early Fifties, Nancy-Lu had occasion to be in Cle Elum. There, in a restaurant or tavern, she met a woman who had lived in the town for a long time and they fell to talking, particularly about the woman's rather dismal life there. The woman's story struck Nancy-Lu as very sad—and the sort of thing that folk songs are made of. Nancy-Lu was interesting in folk music and she sang a bit, but despite the fact that she didn't really fancy herself a song-writer, she felt impelled to write Cle Elum Girl.

She taught the song to Walt, and he sang it quite a bit. At the party after Pete Seeger's concert at the Wesley House auditorium in 1954, she sang it for Pete and told him the story. He was very interested and he wrote down the words, but I don't know if he ever did anything with it.

I haven't seen Nancy-Lu since the Fifties, and it's been decades since I've heard the song. The tune, as I recall, was very similar to Leadbelly'sBlack Girl (In the Pines), but not quite the same. Nancy-Lu may have had that in mind when she wrote the words. If one were to sing it to the tune of Black Girl and "folk process" it a bit, you'd probably come pretty close.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 05:57 PM

Thanks for the posting Don. And Yes, I do remember the vivid poster backdrops to that stage. Yee Gawds Man, it's been a couple of years since then! One quality I so appreciate, and it's a rare one, in songs is B R E V I T Y ! Those who know my writing know that I often compose, then simply remove every other word. It's amazing just how many times you lose NOTHING in that process. And Nancy-Lu's ballad is a perfect example of that. Look at how many places she could have added more words, meter, etc. To me, the essence of the challenge of ballads is to tell the tale well, simply, and truly. "Cle Elum Girl" succeeds better than many. I would love to be able to find the author, if only to be able to thank her and to make certain her authorship is rewarded. Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 06:08 PM

Bob,

switchboard.com turns up two Nancy Pattersons, one in Evans (eastern Washington, by the area code) and one in Puyallup. You might start there.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 07:42 PM

As a former (1985-90) Seattleite, I'm endlessly fascinated by these amazing threads. I know Art Thieme has provided similar stories about the Chicago folk scene, and I'm sure there are others, but it's much more fun to read when I know the places, even if I didn't know most of the people. Don, when your book is published, be sure to let me (and all of us, for that matter) know about it, OK?

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 07:47 PM

Mark ... remember you can always take the "sea" out of an "Attle," but you'll NEVER take the "Sea" out of a "Seattlite!" CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 01 Jan 02 - 08:43 PM

Absolutely, Bob....especially as I'm about to walk over to the beach and go swimming! Have to wish the sea turtles a Happy New Year.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 01:34 PM

Subject: Lyr Add: TALKING COLUMBIA BLUES (Woody Guthrie)
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 02:34 PM

As many folks know, Woody Gutherie worked for the Bonneville Power Dam folks (BPA) for about 6 months back about 1940. He was a song writer on contract. He wrote something like 33 songs (I'm sure I'll be corrected by experts). Included in this brief song writing binge was "This Land Is Your Land." Also, was this gem,

"The Talking Columbia Blues"

Down along the river just sittin on a rock
Looking at the boats at the Bonneville lock
The gate swings open, the boat sails in
Toots her whistle, she's gone again
spoken
Gasoline going up, wheat comming down

Filled up my hat brim, drunk a little taste
Thought about the river just going to waste
Thought about the dust, thought about the sand
Thought about the people, and thought about the land
spoken
folks running all over creation looking for some kind of little place

Fellers back East doin' a lot of talking
Some a balkin', some a squawkin'
But for all their figgures and all their books
Them fellers just didn't know their royal Chinooks
spoken
Salmon ...that's a mighty good river ...just needs another big string of them big power dams on it

Pulled out my pencil, scribbled this song
I figgured all them salmon couldn't be wrong
Them salmon fish is pretty shrewd
They got politicians and senators too
spoken
Just like the president ... they run every four years

You just watch this river tho
Pretty soon everybodys going be changing their tune
The big Grande Coulee and the Bonneville Dam
It'll run a thousand factories for Uncle Sam
spoken
Everything from fertilizers to sewing machines ... plastic bedrooms ... everythings 'gonna be plastic

Uncle Sam needs houses and stuff to eat
Uncle Sam needs wool and Uncle Sam needs wheat
Uncle Sam needs water and power dams
And Uncle Sam needs people and the people need land
spoken
"course I never did like dictators, but I think the whole country oughta be run by e l e c t r i c i t y

It VERY interesting to read this song now, and know that the present political fight on the Columbia River system is to REMOVE all those power dams to make it easier for the Salmon! CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 03:25 PM

For those who might be interested, I dug through my heap and came up with three excellent collections of Pacific Northwest songs.

One of them is entitled (surprise!) Songs of the Pacific Northwest by Philip J. Thomas, published by Hancock House Publishers Ltd., 3215 Island View Road, Saanichton, British Columbia, Canada, V0S 1M0, 1979. Philip J. Thomas, is a founding member of the Vancouver Folk Song Society and has a list of credentials that just won't quit. The book contains words and music (and chords) for about fifty songs. The excellent historical and background notes are extensive, thorough, and fascinating, and the book is full of historical photos, drawings, and maps. Paperback, 8 1/2" by 11" format, perfect-bound, 168 pages plus front and back matter. The focus is fairly broad, covering not just the U. S. Pacific Northwest but Western Canada, which is reasonable, considering that national borders are arbitrary man-made political things and that Philip J. Thomas is Canadian. The book was given to me a couple of decades ago by John Dwyer, along with a companion record (vinyl). If the book is still available, the address I have for it is #10 Orwell Street, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V7J 3K1, telephone: [phone]. I don't know how current this address is.

Another is Washington Songs and Lore compiled by Linda Allen, published by Melior Publications, P. O. Box 1905, Spokane, Washington, 99210-1905, 1988. This compilation was sponsored by the Washington Centennial Commission. It contains folk songs and a variety of other material, including union songs, a few college songs, and some sentimental or humorous pop songs that seemed to have taken root in the area, and a few recently written songs, including one by John Dwyer. And, The Apple Maggot Quarantine Round by Mudcatter Mark Cohen. Words and music, some chords, complete with notes and historical commentary, photos, and drawings (including a photo of Stan Boreson [mentioned a few times in posts above] hoking it up with his accordion, and a cartoon drawing of a gooey-duck). Paperback, 8 1/2" by 11" format, perfect-bound, 186 pages, sixty-five songs of various genres.

A real fun one is The Rainy Day Song Book, subtitled "Traditional and Contemporary Songs of the Northwest," collected and compiled by Linda Allen. This was published by the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, 121 Prospect Street, Bellingham, Washington 98225, 1978. It's gone into at least three printings. Paperback, 8 1/2" by 11" format, saddle-stapled (like a magazine, but it's on heavy, good-quality, durable paper), about sixty pages. Good comprehensive notes along with some great photos, and beautiful calligraphy by Mary Byrne. It contains thirty songs (with chords), including The Gooey-Duck Song (try singing that one with your mouth full of peanuts!), and two by John Dwyer: The San Juan Pig and — hello! — The Ballad of the Merry Ferry.

You will note that the second two are compilations by Bellingham, Washington singer-songwriter Linda Allen. Linda's a good singer, songwriter, and song leader, along with being one neat lady. The Rainy Day Song Book should be available through her website, HERE. Washington Songs and Lore is currently out of print, but you might be able to find it through Bookfinder. Thomas's Songs of the Pacific Northwest can probably be found there too. I've learned that if a book is anywhere within this quadrant of the galaxy, I can usually find it through bookfinder.com.

As far as the songs are concerned, there are, of course, some duplications between these collections, but if one is into songs of the Pacific Northwest or just songs in general, all three are well worth having.

. . . and there is no "r" in Worshington!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 09:30 PM

Linda sometimes pops into the Mudcat, too. I first met her at John Dwyer's house in Marysville, around 1986 or 87, probably. She was just starting to collect the songs that became Washington Songs and Lore, and John thought she would be interested in a couple of mine. Well, one for two ain't bad! (See, I can tell "old" Seattle folk stories, too!) I agree with Don, both of Linda's songbooks are excellent. And she is also an outstanding singer and songwriter, herself. Check out the Linda Allen homepage.

Aloha,
Mark (the turtles say hi, too)

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 09:54 PM

Mark ... I'm also a HUGE fan Of Linda. I suspect that you and I were both at that gathering at Johns. One of the finest ballads, in my opinion, of Linda's is "The Ballad of Laura Law." I grew up with this tale. My Father is Finnish, and as such his family had strong ties to the Finnish community in Aberdeen, Washington. Every year, when my Father was a youngster, his family traveled from another side of the state and visited with friends in Aberdeen. Lo these many years ago, it turned out that Father had met Laura, and her husband Dick. When I sang him the song he was amazed. By the way Mark, when I first visited Honolulu some time ago, I was amazed to realize that the highway signs read perfectly in Finnish! True, same vowells, absence of consonants. The only time it got weird was when I would pronounce the highway sign names with traditional Finnish pronounciation. All the locals would just shake their heads and walk away complaining about the damned howlies!(sp?) CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 10:12 PM

Mark,

For you and others who remember Dad's tiny little 800 square foot house on the beach (but NOT a beach one would visit for swimming today--it's cold and has sturgeon, not turtles!), it has changed.

Last time I was there the new owner (who the neighbors happily approved of because she grew up out there at the beach) had completely remodeled. He had 50' on the beach, with large windows looking out to the deck and bulkhead. (His attached garage also had a picture window; most expensive parking per square foot in the region). The new owner took the fireplace out, and the wall between the kitchen and living room. Now when you walk in the back door there is a spacious cooktop counter and that gorgeous unimpeded view of Puget Sound, the Olympics, and the Cascades. When the accoustical tile came off the ceiling it revealed beautiful tongue and groove boards, so she left them rather than putting in a cathedral ceiling as she planned. She took out the wall where the bookcase was and now there's an "L" to the left off the livingroom (was his bedroom). A door was put through into the garage, which was enclosed and made into a large beautiful bed-sitting room with a bay window out the front (where the fishing tackle used to be). It has a laundry and small bathroom also. The second bedroom was enlarged when the closet was removed and the old bathroom was enclosed to serve just that bedroom. They paved the area across the road in front of the shed and now there's lots of parking.

I know he wouldn't have bothered with all of that work, but I think he'd be pleased with the results. They were putting up shingles (on the outside--they're all gone from the bathroom walls!) last I saw it. In case you were curious!

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 10:14 PM

That's OK, Bob, I'm sure you were no worse than the other haoles, and probably better! My ex used to refer to Hawaiian names as "alphabet fruit salad". That is an interesting point about Finnish, though. [Caution, thread creep ahead.] "Haole" (pronounced as you wrote it, 'howlie') is an interesting word. It's usually used to mean "Caucasian", but my understanding is that the Hawaiian word really means "silent" or "not speaking". Apparently it was applied to the immigrants because they were not able to chant or state their genealogy, which was the traditional way Hawaiians introduced themselves in formal meetings. It's also interesting that people of Portuguese descent are the only white people in Hawaii who are NOT called haoles. (The term for them is "Portagee"!) There's probably a good historico-cultural explanation for that, but I don't know what it is.

You may well have been at that gathering at John's house, Bob. It's faded far enough in my memory, though, that I can't recall anybody else who was there. But that's not surprising...I had forgotten I'd met Don Firth, too, even though he rode in my car for two hours or so from Seattle to San Juan Island. And Don's not an easy person to forget!

That ride, by the way, was to the Seattle Song Circle's "performance" at San Juan Island National Historical Park, which was hosted by John Dwyer's daughter, Maggie, who was then a park ranger on the island, and who is now "Stilly River Sage", who started this thread in the first place....so there, I've brought the damn thing back on track!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From:
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 11:19 PM

speaking of Hawaians and the Northwest...there was quite a village in Vancouver WA at Ft. Vancouver....they had a deal with the king who sent "laborers", however defined..who worked probably for several years. Some returned, some stayed. And Hawaii was part of the Hudson's Bay territory of the Vancouver fort. Kalama is named after a Hawaian..as is Aloha OR. The fort had a nice Hawaian (am I spelling this right) Christmas re-enactment. Many of the H's were used as divers. Now, get this...near to where I live, at the mouth of the Columbia...there was a leper colony. I don't know what the connection is but I think my source told me it was related to Father Damian's colony in Hawaii. I'll have to learn more about it. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jan 02 - 11:42 PM

Mark,

You did a better job of staying on topic than I did! But Don gave us a huge boost in material germane to the thread with his list of folks with books of Northwest songs. Now Mary has indicated that the Northwest stretches to include Hawaii. East apparently met west even before it was the global village.

Sing hey and sing ho and sing down a down derry
Oh what is so merry as missing the ferry!

Darn tune has been running through my head since I started the thread.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 12:02 AM

I knew there was a connection! Thanks, Mary, you've helped my Northwestern/Hawaiian soul rest easy. Now I just have to deal with the Philadelphian part...

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From:
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 12:22 AM

any time. I did a google search and here is something about a leper colony in New Brunswick. http://www.rubycusack.com/issue117.html and there was something else about the Elizabeth Islands near Cape Cod having a leper colony. I went under leper colonies U.S. I think. mg

Subject: Lyr Add: GEODUCK
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 10:59 AM

This thread has inspired me to go to my files. I'm glad that I did as I just found a wonderful piece of writing that I'd forgotten. This collection of Northwest Folk Songs is titiled, "Folksongs From The Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound." It is a "Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Institute of Musical Art, Julliard School of Music." It was written by Winifred I. Knox, July 1945. In this collection are many songs that were sung in this region during the settling years. I recognise many of the songs as being fairly well known throughout the whole country at the time. However, here's a song unique to Puget Sound country.

Geoduck

It takes a lot of energy, strength and pluck
To catch the elusive geoduck
For it takes a man who's quick and strong
To catch a goeduck with a neck a foot long
A foot long, a foot long,a foot long, a foot long
For it takes a man who's quick and strong
To catch the geoduck with a neck a foot long

To catch the geoduck you grab him by the neck
And then you start to pull and you pull like heck
But if you're not feeling very strong that day
The geoduck will pull so hard he'll get away
Away, away, away, away
But if you're not feeling very strong that day
The goeduck will pull so hard he'll get away

CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 11:46 AM

Wow, Bob, you're a fount of information! I have easy access to scholarly (subscription through the university library) databases, including thesis and dissertation abstracts. If there are any obscure terms you'd like me to check out, let me know, and I'll run them through a search. Then you can explain to the interlibrary loan librarian where to order it for you. ;)

Maggie

Subject: Lyr Add: COPENHAGEN
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 12:23 PM

You know Maggie, I've been accused of many things in my life, but never before "a fount of information." I'm usually known for missinformation and poor spelling! Here's another one:

COPENHAGEN (Snuff or Snoose)

To a geopolitician, Copenhagen is a city
To an old time musician, Copenhagen is a ditty
But to loggers and longshoremen, and the worker in the mill
A rare of Copenhagen snoose gives power of the will
CHO
Take your steaks, and your stews, and your well boiled hen
Give me a chew of Copenhagen
I've had a tough life, taken plenty abuse
And I'd never stood up without my snoose.

Some say it ain't neat, It isn't polite
Try to take way my snoose and, brother, I'll fight
A blood transfusion wouldn't do me any use
Just fill me veins with tobacco juice

CHO
For men in the woods, the mills and the mine
Good old Copenhagen takes the slack out of the lines
And here's a fact I forgot to mention
To chew Copenhagen is fire prevention.

Subject: Lyr Add: PORTLAND COUNTY JAIL
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 03:38 PM

Here's another typical Northwest song. I believe that the late Walt Robertson recorded this on one of his albums for Moses Asch of Folkways Records fame. We used to sing this with great gusto ... the later the hour, the more the gusto!
PORTLAND COUNTY JAIL
I got drunk the other night, and the coppers run me in,
I had no money to pay me fine, no one to go my bail,
So I got stuck, for ninety days, in the Portland County jail.

Oh, such a bunch of divils, as no one ever saw,
Robbers, thieves, and highwaymen, breakers of the law,
They sang a song the whole night long, the curses fell like hail,
I'll bless the day, that takes me away, from the Portland County jail

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 03:41 PM

For some reason, the first line of the first verse did not get printed. It should read:
I'm a stranger to your city, my name is Paddy Flynn,
I got drunk the other night etc .....

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Deckman
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 05:06 PM

Here's the last verse:
The only friend I ever had was Officer McGurk
He said I was a no good bum, a lazy and a shirk
One Saturday night, when I got tight, he trun me in the can
And now, you see, he's made of me, and honest workin' man

Subject: RE: Ballad of the Merry Ferry (Pacific NW)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 02 - 10:44 PM

"he trun me in the can"? Something tells me your fingers weren't over the home row when you typed that line. Or I'm drawing a complete blank.