To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=23836
12 messages

Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)

29 Jul 00 - 03:33 PM (#267392)
Subject: Boats of Peter's River ^^
From: Barbara

Hello Mudcatters,
I just transcribed this song for the SFFMC Folknik, and it's written by fellow Mudcatter mg. I first heard this sung by folks on the East coast, even tho Mary lives out here near me in ORegon.
She gave me permission to post it here, so I did.
She says about it, "I wrote [this song] when I went back to Peter's River a few years ago. I had worked on a whale research study there some years ago through the University of Newfoundland, and wanted to see it again. This was after the collapse of the cod fishery in Newfoundland, and fishermen couldn't even go out and catch a few fish for their families. The men were hanging out in the stores in what was probably a state of shock. All the boats were upside down up and down the bay. It is a very beautiful and historic place, and it is just tragic what happened with the loss of the fisheries".
"The bit about shooting their boats is true. A really bad storm came up when I was there and the men did go and shoot their boats to sink them so they would survive the storm."

BOATS OF PETERS RIVER
(c 1995 Mary Garvey)

Not a boat in Peter's River or in all St. Mary's Bay
The fishermen in rubber boots are staying home today
Hanging up the laundry hang out at the store
The little boats of Newfoundland are idle on the shore

REFRAIN
The men of Peter's River
are just barely getting by
And the boats of Peter's River
have their bottoms to the sky

The wives of Peter's River are taking up the slack
The fisheries has ended and it's never coming back
Sell a little knitting set some broody hens
No sooner does a long day end another one begins

REFRAIN:
The wives of Peter's River
are too strong to sit and cry
And the boats of Peter's River
have their bottoms to the sky

The boys of Peter's are as bright as boys can be
Their eyes are on the highway instead of on the sea
Where their fathers went before them is not where they must go
And the fate of Peter's River is not for us to know

REFRAIN:
The boys of Peter's River
are too young to wonder why
And the boats of Peter's River
have their bottoms to the sky

4. The storms of Peter's River have pounded us for years
Crashing in the harbor and smashing up the piers
We've ridden out these storms before by shooting at our boats
But we know this storm is different and we cannot stay afloat

REFRAIN: There's no nets in Peter's River
a-hanging out to dry
And the boats of Peter's River
have their bottoms to the sky
^^

29 Jul 00 - 03:39 PM (#267396)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River
From: Barbara

And here's the tune in Alan of Oz's program. I'll also ship those folks the MIDI so it can get posted on the tune page. I've heard rumors that Gordon Bok sings this. Anyone know?
Blessings,
Barbara

Click to play

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:4/4
Q:1/4=120
K:C
D7D|B3cB2A2|G2D4GG|G3G^F2E2|D8|E3^FG2G2|D2D2G2G2|
A3BA3G|^F8|B3cd2B2|c2A6|B2G2c3B|A7D|E3^FG3E|
D3GG2B2|c2A2G2^F2|G7G|c3cE2c2|B2G2D2B2|A3^FD2A2|
B4G2^F2|E3^FG3E|DG3G2B2|c2A2D2^F2|G19/4||

04 Aug 00 - 09:33 PM (#271697)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River
From: Alan of Australia

G'day,
Thanks to Barbara the tune for "Boats of Peter's River" can be found at the Mudcat MIDI site.

Cheers,
Alan

Click to play

10 Aug 00 - 01:49 PM (#275152)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River
From: Barbara

Thanks Alan, Joe. I like this song.
blessings,
Barbara

30 Apr 03 - 06:11 PM (#943888)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River
From: katlaughing

Wow, what a very fine song. Not surprised at all that Bok used it on his new CD!

30 Apr 03 - 06:28 PM (#943907)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River
From: radriano

Hi Barbara.

Unfortunately, that particular MIDI file does not work. Drat!
Can't figure out why that MIDI didn't work, so I replaced it with another copy.
The MIDI links should work now.
-Joe Offer-

30 Apr 03 - 06:48 PM (#943924)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)
From: radriano

The ABC notation shows the key of this song to be "C" yet there are a bunch of F# notes. Is that right? Alan Oz's program is a good one but the automatic translation to ABC feature is not terribly accurate - I've run into this before.

Thanks Joe, I'll check the new MIDI.

Richard (Radriano)

30 Apr 03 - 07:24 PM (#943974)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)
From: Snuffy

It looks like it is actually in G, but is written as C with accidentals for each F# rather than having the global accidental in the key signature.

It also gives unprintable notes like D7 or G19/4, which are not a problem to a player program, but have to be re-coded to produce acceptable printed output (And it will insist on changing Bb to A#!)

30 Apr 03 - 11:08 PM (#944101)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)
From: Barbara

If any of you literate types PM me with your email addys, I'll be glad to send you a GIF or JPG of the sheet music and words -- radriano, I have it transcribed because I ran it in the SFFMC newsletter, probably about the time of the original posts AUG 02, if you save the newsletters. It is also in Gordon's latest book, or you could go over to Faith's and look it up.
And yes, I did write it out in G. I don't know why Alan's program makes everything C. Also pickup measures at the beginning (which this song has) tend to get lost.
Blessings,
Barbara

30 Apr 03 - 11:18 PM (#944105)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)
From: Barbara

Sorry, it should be AUG 2000, not 2002.
Or I can even snail mail it if you want.
Blessings,
Barbara

01 May 03 - 08:14 AM (#944294)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)
From: Charley Noble

Good song!

Charley Noble

01 May 03 - 04:50 PM (#944453)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Boats of Peter's River (Mary Garvey)
From: radriano

Barbara,

Thanks for the offer but now that I have a MIDI that works that's all I need.

Richard