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16 Sep 99 - 02:05 AM (#114626) Subject: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: JWBKEB@aol.com looking for lyrics to this old song |
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16 Sep 99 - 03:25 AM (#114633) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Joe Offer Hi - can you give us any more information about the song? Just a title isn't enough to go on. Does "Monroe" mean it was a Bill Monroe recording? Do you remember any of the lyrics? If you put shanty boy in the search box on this page, you'll find a few songs - maybe one is the song you're looking for. (copy of this message sent by e-mail) -Joe Offer- |
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16 Sep 99 - 11:35 AM (#114695) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Art Thieme I'm pretty certain that you're looking for info on "THE JAM ON GERRY'S ROCK (click)"--- Paul Clayton, who was a good researcher of the songs he sang, says of the song that while being the most popular of the ballads about the men who were killed after being torn and mangled while breaking log jams on the rivers used to float/transport the cut logs to the mills, "Despite a great deal of research, little concerning it's origin or the facts upon which it was based has been uncovered." The great Canadian song finder, Edith Fowke, says, "While most critics agree that the ballad was written by a Canadian, there is no agreement about it's place of origin. The most exhaustive search to pin down the location was made by Mrs. Eckstorm in "The Pursuit Of Ballad Myth" in __Minstrelsy Of Maine__, pp. 176-198. Although she comes to no definite conclusion, she inclines to the belief that the accident happened at the Grand Pitch of Seboois in Maine." Mrs. Fowke continues, "Professor Franz Rickaby notes, "Whatever the place of it's origin, the ballad of Gerry's Rock has traveled far...In the tide of migration, it traveled out into the plains of the west and the southwest where many sang it. It is said to have filtered back to the British Isles." Art Thieme |
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16 Sep 99 - 04:40 PM (#114775) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Lesley N. The information I found said Gerry's Rocks (Gerrish) are above The Forks, Maine and the events of the tune are carved on a rock and tree on the Kennebec River. I have a midi and what information I have at http://www.contemplator.com/folk5/jam.html. |
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16 Sep 99 - 09:10 PM (#114821) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: kendall morse (don't use) Some of my older relatives worked on the Machias river log drives, and, as a boy I heard them talk about this song. They swear it took place on the Machias river. Anyway.. no one has asked, which indicates that no one cares, but, in case someone does, the deacons seat might bear explanation. In logging camps of long ago, there were few forms of entertainment. One of them was story telling, and, some very tall tales were invented.(Including Paul Bunyon) If it was your turn to tell a story, you were taking the "Deacon's seat". And, if you told the truth, you probably had to eat Mooseturd pie. |
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17 Sep 99 - 01:57 AM (#114854) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Stewie Doeflinger believed that 'Gerry's Rock' is 'of Canadian authorship, though the author was probably in Maine or Michigan at the time'. He gives 2 versions of the song, one from Woody Guthrie and the other from Ontario singer, Archie Lant, who associated the ballad with Michigan or Wisconsin. cf William Main Doeflinger 'Songs of the Sailor and Shanty Man' Macmillan 2nd ed 1972 pp 237-241. |
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17 Sep 99 - 03:20 AM (#114864) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Joe Offer I'm in awe - three words in the request, and you guys come up with all that great information. Mudcat at its best, I'd say. -Joe Offer- |
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17 Sep 99 - 02:18 PM (#115001) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: David Coffin I have lyrics to a song called "When the Shanty Boy Comes Down" that is Canadian in origin. Please let me know if this might be what you are looking for. It's a great song. I'll type it out upon request when time permits. |
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17 Sep 99 - 03:23 PM (#115028) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Lesley N. Ballads and Songs of the Shanty Boys lists three variants of The Jam on Gerry's Rocks - Geary's Rocks, Shanty-boys and Foreman Monroe. The tunes are slightly different and the words are only given to Gerry and Geary's rocks. They too vary only slightly. |
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17 Sep 99 - 09:45 PM (#115148) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: raredance Roland Gray ("Songs & Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks, 1925) is in the Maine, Penobscot River and its tributaries camp. He state that the even "actually happened during a lumber operation" on the Penobscot. He says that 6 shantey boys plus Monore volunteered to clear the jam. The men died and only Monore's body was recovered for burial. Monroe's girl friend, Clara Vernon, died of heartbreak (they did that a lot in olden days). Franz Rickaby ("Ballads & Songs of the Shanty-Boy", 1926) was less sure. He did most of his collecting in the mid-west. He says that the line referring to Monroe's girl as being from "Saginaw town" was in every version he ever heard (and in Gray's as well) and is at least congruent with mid-west or more specifically Michigan origins. He says that finding a Gerry's Rocks in Michigan or a Saginaw town in Maine could help decide the issue. Along with the spelling of the Rocks, the downstream town varies quite a bit in different versions: Agonstown, Ealgeton,Eaglestown, Egantown, Hagenstown, Eagontown, Eganstown, Saginaw town and even "freedom's land". Monroe was buried on the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 10th or 12th of May. Earl.C. Beck (Lore of the Lumber Camp, 1948) is even less sure of the orgins. He said it was the most popular song in the Michigan lumber camps, but that it was known "from Portland to Portland". He says the"famous rocks can be found in almost any lumbering state." He offers as possible locations the Penobscto or Kenebec in Maine, the Ottawa River in Ontario (site of "Garian's Rocks), the Wisconsin River near Wisconsin Dells, the Columbia River in Washington, and even the Klamath River in California. He said that most Michigan lumberjacks located Gerry's Rocks either in the Big Bend of the Muskegon River (site impounded by Hardy Dam) or in the Tittabawassee River near Edenville (site impounded by the Wixom Dam).[An aside - Art Thieme does a song about a "Tittabawassee Jane"]. Beck ways the girl friend's name is Clara Vernon, Clara Burnham, Clara Dennison, Clara Benson, Clara Vincent, or Allie Farnum. Most versions have Jack Monroe as the foreman but he found one with Charlie Monroe. He also says that satirical and obscene verses were often added. He cites a satrical verse likely written on the American side:
The six Canadian boys got drowned, Just to add a little more Monroe confusion, Rickaby also includes the lyrics to another song called "Daniel Monroe." It's about 2 brothers who shipped off to America in search of his parents who had gone on ahead. They land, are led off into the woods, waylaid by ruffians and shot by no less than dear old dad. It was apparently popular in some of the camps. rich r
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17 Sep 99 - 11:24 PM (#115182) Subject: Lyr Add: THE JAM ON JERRY'S ROCKS (from P Seeger) From: fox4zero Pete Seeger recorded THE JAM ON JERRY'S ROCKS on Folkways FP3 DARLING COREY in 1950: Come all you true born shanty boys wherever you may be. Come sit here on the deacon's seat and listen unto me. 'Tis of the jam on Jerry's Rocks and a hero you should know: The bravest of the shanty boys, our foreman young Monroe. 'Twas on a Sunday morning ere daylight did appear; Our logs were piled up mountain high we could not keep them clear. Till six of our brave shanty boys, they did agree to go And break the jam on Jerry's Rocks with foreman young Monroe. We had not picked up many a log till Monroe he did say: "This jam will soon give way, boys I'll send you far away. "I will send you off the drive, boys, for the jam it soon will go." The he picked the key log out of the drive and off went young Monroe. When the rest of all the shanty boys the bad news came to hear, They gathered at the river and downward they did stare. And there they found to their surprise and sorrow, grief and woe, All cut and mangled on the beach lay the form of young Monroe. According To Seeger, no one found the location of Jerry's Rocks during the preceding 50 years. The theme has been found from Minnesota to Scotland. To give you some idea of my age, I bought this record new when it was issued (1950) Signed: PARISH |
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19 Sep 99 - 05:21 AM (#115475) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: Elaine This is the song that I was looking for . Thank all of you so very much. My Dad is 80 and had forgotten some of the words to this song. I will check back often ....perhaps he can come up with the lyrics for someone else..... |
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09 Jul 09 - 07:02 PM (#2676103) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanty Boy, Monroe From: GUEST I believe the line is "sit here on the Deacon's beat." at least that's how my dad always sang it! |