Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma

Subject: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Aug 05 - 11:54 AM

Ran across ref to this song on another web site... anyone got any 411 on it?

Lyrics? tune? an mp3?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 11:15 AM

nothing?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Cluin
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 12:06 PM

I hadn't heard of it before, but I thought it might be an old ship ballad, since it sounds like a boat name. Then I came across a mention of a lyric "Iva, The Maid of Algoma" on page 27 of this PDF of "Papers of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft" (c.1817 to 1857 section).

That's all I found, apart from the mentions of the name of the song (with no other details) in the couple of pages of "patriotic ballads" you've probably seen already.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 12:24 PM

Yup... I always google before I ask here...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 12:47 PM

Algoma seems to be a name you hear a lot around the Great Lakes. I know it from Algoma, Wisconsin a town on Lake Michigan, quite a bit north of Milwaukee - up where it's pretty. I followed the Lake Michigan shore quite a ways a couple years ago - first time I'd been north of Milwaukee in 33 years, and it hadn't changed a whole lot.

Seems to me I've been through a town of Algoma in Ontario, too.

I haven't found the song in a cursory check, but I'll spend some more time with my Great Lakes songbooks.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: pyewacket
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 01:02 PM

Clinton:

I married the "Maid from Algoma". She used to be the "Maid from South Porcupine"!

pyewacket

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Cluin
Date: 30 Aug 05 - 01:43 PM

Algoma isn't a town in North Ontario, Joe. It's a district centering around Sault Ste. Marie (where I live and CH used to) and stretching from just west of Sudbury to just east of Thunder Bay. Lots of rocks trees and lakes. There are towns here with the name Algoma in it, like Algoma Mills.

I wrote and recorded a homesick song called "Algoma" several years ago. I still hear it played occasionally on CBC North.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 10:43 PM

"Comings and goings: university students in Canadian society, 1854-1973 - Google Books Resultby Charles Morden Levi - 2003 - Education - 172 pages
... in the drawing-room and around the camp-fire" a piece entitled "The Maid from Algoma." Among the two versions of the lyrics published were the following ...
books.google.ca/books?isbn=0773524428..."

Note there are two stanzas from the song there, if indeed it's the song CH was seeking.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Maid from Algoma
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 10:55 PM

Well, we'd best post it, in case it's the right one. From Comings and goings: university students in Canadian society, 1854-1973. This was from the 1887 University of Toronto Song Book.

"What are your studies, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho
"Chinese and Quaternions, sir," she said,
"And I come away back from Algoma."

"Then who will marry you, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho
"Cultured girls don't marry, sir," she said,
"And I go away back to Algoma."

Subject: ADD: the Annex Maid
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 11:09 PM

But of course, the University of Toronto wasn't the only place this song was sung. It's known as the Annex Maid.

THE ANNEX MAID

"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
Heave away! Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!
"I'm going to the Annex, sir," she said,
"And I come from the Rio Grande."

"What to do there, my pretty maid?"
Heave away! Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!
"I'm going be cultured, sir," she said,
"And I come from the Rio Grande."

"What are your studies, my pretty maid?"
Heave away! Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!
"Chinese and Quaternions, sir," she said,
"And I come from the Rio Grande."

"Then who will marry you, my pretty maid?"
Heave away! Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!
"Cultured girls don't marry, sir," she said,
"And I come from the Rio Grande."


But is THAT the song Clinton was seeking? Only the Shadow knows....

-Joe-

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MAID FROM ALGOMA
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 01:09 PM

From The University of Toronto Song Book, edition of 1887 revised and enlarged in 1918 by James Edmund Jones, B.A. (Toronto: W. R. Draper, 1918), page 61 (where it appears with musical notation for 1 voice and piano):


THE MAID FROM ALGOMA.

FIRST VERSION.

1. "Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"I'm going to the 'Varsity, sir," she said,
"And I come away back from Algoma."

CHORUS: Heave away! Heigho! Heigho!
Heave away! Heigho! Heigho!
"I'm going to the 'Varsity, sir," she said,
"And I come away back from Algoma."

2. "What to do there, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"I'm going to be cultured, sir," she said,
"For I come away back from Algoma."—Cho.

3. "What are your studies, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"Chinese and quaternions, sir." she said,
"And I come away back from Algoma."—Cho.

4. "Then who will marry you, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"Cultured girls don't marry, sir," she said,
"And I go away back to Algoma."—Cho.

SECOND VERSION.

1. "Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"I'm going to a lecture, sir," she said.
"And I come away back from Algoma."—Cho.

2. "May I go with yon, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"You wouldn't understand it, sir," she said,
"For I come away back from Algoma."—Cho.

3. "What is the subject, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"Total extinction of man," she said,
"For I go away back to Algoma."—Cho.

4. "Then who will marry you, my pretty maid?"
Heave away, heigho, heigho.
"—— will marry me, sir," she said,
"And I go away back to Algoma."—Cho.