Lyr Add: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: leeneia
Date: 25 May 22 - 11:06 AM

Thank you for the answer, Tattie Bogle. "the Forth is the name of the river." So logical, so obvious, so limpid, and it only took eleven years.

I'm not going to ask why anybody would name a river the Forth. No, wait. If the firth used to be the frith, probably the Forth used to be the Froth. That would make sense, especially when the glaciers were melting and the wild, frothy waters rushed to the sea, filling the frith from cliff to cliff.

Glad that's cleared up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 May 22 - 08:30 PM

Ha-ha! Just reminds me of an old joke my dear Dad used to tell, he having been in the British Royal Navy during WW2. It was about some American sailors who were still sailing up river way up beyond Grangemouth, still looking for “The Fourth Bridge”. (In those days there was only the iconic Forth Rail Bridge until you got to the Kincardine Bridge). Now we have the Forth Road Bridge, opened in 1964, and the Queensferry Crossing, very much more recent, and the Clackmannan Bridge too.
And as yet unanswered, the Forth is the name of the river.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,Bubba Miller
Date: 24 May 22 - 04:31 AM

- Better-Late-Than-Never Post -
I've been doing research on a relative of mine, Bob Miller, who happened to be a co-writer(under the pseudonym of Shelby Darnel) of this song (and publisher). Thanks for posting the lyrics, it fills in another small piece of the career puzzle I'm working on. Though this song was published, it was never recorded.(As far as I know)

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,pwlibrarian
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:11 PM

My recollection of the missing cover of this masterpiece (?) is that there were aircraft on it. I think that the "Whosis" of the song was an American pilot who crashed into the Firth of Forth, and did not survive the experience.

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 01:58 PM

Deckman, do pay attention.

Firth was defined first. Now we seek the force behind Forth.

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 06:05 PM

. . . Umm. . . ?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: Deckman
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 05:34 PM

Someone asked "What is a Firth?" Boy ... what a question! Having been a close friend of Don Firth for over 50 years, I would LOVE to give answers to that question. However, this being a family show ... I'd better be quiet. CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 04:46 PM

It's very nice, Tom. But are you sure it's not a song from Pogo?

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:49 AM

Some time ago, I was doing some gigs in Scotland. I had lunch in Anstruther, where I found a very nice Indian restaurant. On a whim, I asked if I could have my food served to me while I went for a paddle.

I ordered items one to twelve on the menu, then stepped into the sea just as the waiters brought the food..

And at that Firth Second, in the Tired old Forth in Fife, with Sikhs Serving, I Ate Nan and Tinned Lemon. Doesn't that sound nice?

Tom

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 11:40 AM

Thank you, pw. I like it.

Your post caused me to ask 'What is a firth, anyway?' my dictionary gives two definitions.

1. A narrow arm of the sea; the mouth of a river opening to the sea.

2. A wooded hunting ground, a deer park, a coppice.

Obviously a person who thought he was going into (2) when he was actually going into (1) would be in real trouble. This is probably what happened to Whos-is.

Now, does anybody know where the 'Forth' part comes from?
===========
'Firth' used to be 'frith.' This is another example of something I collect, moveable r's. For example, I know of a medieval song where 'bird' is 'brid' and 'bride' is 'birde.'

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 03:40 PM

Well, lemme see now . . . if my great grandfather, Robert Firth, who left Scotland in 1851 to work for the Hudson's Bay Company in what is now the Pacific Northwest, was the firtht—uh—first, then that would make me the fourth Firth.

Wouldn't it?

Hmm. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 03:32 PM

Thanks a lot for dropping by to post the lyrics - it's a cute song.

-Joe-

Subject: ADD: He Was the Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth
From: GUEST,pwlibrarian
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 03:24 PM

I FOUND IT!!! It was here all along, filed in a special folder of war songs, rather than in the main sheet music collection.



HE WAS THE FIFTH TO FIND THE FIRTH OF FORTH
(Larry Royal, Billy Faber, & Shelby Darnell, 1942)

Verse: In the Pages of History
       There is one Man of Mystery.
       a man whose name we speak of with awe.
       His deed was so stupendous
       Colossal and tremendous!
       A teardrop dims the eye
       When one talks about this guy

Chorus: He was the fifth to find the Firth of Forth
         He wasn't first or second, third or fourth.
         Oh! A famous man was he
         He didn't know he'd found the Firth of Forth
         His compass pointed South instead of North
         And so he fell into the Firth of Forth
         And went down in History
         All hail to this great whos-is
         We can't recall his name.
         But hail hail to dear old whos-is
         Everyone knows of his fame.
         We ought to build a something of some sort
         In memory of this famous fearless sport
         Who was the fifth to find the Firth of Forth
         Yes a famous man was he

         He was the fifth to find the Firth of Forth
         As history ever will remember henceforth.
         A rumor said he fled an irate wife
         Who had vowed she'd have his life.
         The gossip mongers changed a true report
         He only sought for some secluded port
         When all at once there loomed the Firth of Forth
         Now his deed is history
         All hail to this great whos-is
         We can't recall his name.
         But hail hail to dear old whos-is
         Everyone knows of his fame.
         There is a moral to this poignant tale
         So do be careful as you go along
         Or else some screwy guy will write a song
         Like the first Fifth Firth of Forth!

          Larry Royal, Billy Faber, & Shelby Darnell
Published in 1942. Bob Miller, Inc. New York

Wellllll... I guess the rarity justifies the post!

:-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: fifth to find the firth of forth
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Jun 06 - 11:13 AM

refresh

Subject: fifth to find the firth of forth
From: GUEST,pwlibrarian
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 09:24 AM

A nummber of years ago, I THINK we had a novelty pop number in our sheet music collection called "He Was The Fifth to Find the Firth of Forth" It has been lost and I'd like to replace it. However I cannot verify the title. Has anyone over here heard of it? It is probably '30's or '40's vintage, at a guess.