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31 May 03 - 01:38 AM (#962387) Subject: Folklore: Oyster songs From: mg Anybody think of any? I just wrote one and can't think of others...about something I need to double check on..the oystering in Washington State during the blackout times of World War II...someone alluded to me..didn't come right out and say..that they had to dig oysters in the dark because of the blackout..I asked a couple of people and they said they never heard of it....asked someone else today and he said it was true. I'll get back to my original source, whose mother worked in the oystering at that time.... Also, I had never thought of it, but Washington as many know was the home to many Japanese people who were sent to the camps during the war, and I'd always known about the farmers etc. but the oyster people (who also consider themselves farmers, at least some of them) were affected too... mg |
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31 May 03 - 02:56 AM (#962395) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST Oystering songs: There's the "Geoduck" song from Seattle I believe. This has been recorded in Japanese A version goes like Chorus: Dig a duck, dig a duck, Dig a gooey duck Dig a duck, dig a gooey duck Dig a duck a day You can hear the digger say As he's headed for the bay I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day Cause I get a buck a duck If I dig a duck a day So I gotta dig a duck, Gotta dig a duck a day They walk across the sand About a half a mile from land To dig a gooey duck You dig him up by hand But it isn't much trouble And you don't use a shovel You find a gooey duck By looking for the bubble It take a lot of luck And a certain kind of pluck To dig around the muck To get a gooey duck Cause he doesn't have a front And he doesn't have a back And he doesn't know Donald And he doesn't go, "Quack!" From the Chessapeake Bay there's also the "Shanghied Dredger". A early 19th century round from Baltimore called "Go It Jerry" contains an oyster vendors cry as one of its verses |
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31 May 03 - 09:13 AM (#962464) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST,JohnB There is one from "Ravenscroft" a round called "New Oysters" JohnB |
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31 May 03 - 09:21 AM (#962465) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Walter Corey Malvina Reynolds, I believe, wrote "You Can't Eat the Oysters in New Haven Harbor" |
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31 May 03 - 09:57 AM (#962483) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Padre From the Boarding Party: "Go it Jerry" [A round] Go it Jerry, keep it up, There's nothing like a spree, sir, Holler fire and oysters, boys, And then a sight you'll see, sir Fire, Fire, Fire,Fire, Fire Bring out the engine, boys There's fire, fire, fire Oysters, fine oysters Try my fine fresh oysters York River fresh and fat As ere you see sirs Past twelve o'clock And a starlight morning |
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31 May 03 - 11:03 AM (#962506) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Malcolm Douglas See also song about oysters |
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31 May 03 - 02:06 PM (#962585) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST,Mary I thought I had one for you but I looked it up and it was called "Acres of Clams". Would that be close enough? Personally, I only like oysters raw and I only like clams cooked, so there is a difference besides their bivalveness. |
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31 May 03 - 02:28 PM (#962588) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: MMario somewhere I have one about the "young Oysterman" |
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31 May 03 - 02:32 PM (#962589) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Rapparee Don't forget Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter." |
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31 May 03 - 03:11 PM (#962606) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Leadfingers As I was a walking down a London Street A pretty little Oyster Girl I happened for to meet I lifted up her basket and so boldly did I seek For to see if she'd got any Oysters Oh Oysters Oh Oysters Oh Oysters Said she These are the finest Oysters that ever you could see I sell them three penny but I'll give them to you free For I see you are a lover of Oysters Oh Landlord,Oh Landlord, Landlord I cried Have you got a room that is empty and nearby Where me and my pretty little Oyster Girl might lie While we bargain for her basket of Oysters Now we had not been in bed not a quarter hour or more When my little Oyster Girl she's headed for the door She's picked my bloody pocket and then down the stair she tore But she left behind her basket of Oysters Oh Landlord,O landlord,Landlord I cried Did you see the little Oyster Girl a drinking by my side She's gone and picked my pocket but the Landlord just replied Son You shouldnt be so fond of your Oysters |
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31 May 03 - 03:18 PM (#962607) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: saulgoldie There is "Eat Bertha's Mussels." Although it does not specify oysters, one could certainly infer it. |
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31 May 03 - 05:15 PM (#962634) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST Sweet Molly Malone...cockles and mussels...that close enough? |
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31 May 03 - 06:41 PM (#962651) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: mg thanks...I'll print these up and make them into a little booklet.. here are the words to the Oystershell Road song Oystershell Road You have to dig oysters when the tide is just right And sometimes it comes in the dead of the night The orders came down to extinguish all light To our homes on the oystershell road Some were from Germany some from Japan They lived for the oyster each woman and man We said God be with you return when you can To your homes on the oystershell road Now the glow of a lantern could bring an attack And sometimes we'd sleep in the old oyster shack And drop ourselves down with a rake and a sack Near our homes on the oystershell road For when push comes to shove your mettle shines through And our hands and our feet somehow knew what to do With the men gone away we made such a fine crew From our homes on the oystershell road We helped win the war in the mud and the muck And prayed that our feet would never get stuck When the tide rushes in you can run out of luck By your homes on the oystershell road Oh how I remember the dark and the cold I had hoped that our story would someday be told But it probably won't cause we're getting so old In our homes on the oystershell road |
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09 Jun 03 - 01:17 PM (#964610) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST,Q Found the "Oyster Song," by Connie Mason, Carteret County, North Carolina. Didn't see in in this thread or 55798, which has the wonderful Cole Porter "Tale of the Oyster." Lyr. Add: Oyster Song Chorus Well, tonight I ate an oyster, An oyster in a stew; A stew of mud and butter; Which he was floating through! 1. I ate his heart, his liver; His gill and his fluid sac; His teeth and his capillaries; The tube along his back! 2. I ate his pores and his fleshy foot; Intestines large and small; The other glands and tissues; I quite devoured all! 3. I ate his brains and ganglia; His nervous system central; His stomach and its contents; His muscles to the ventral! 4. Dear host, the meal was perfect! A real delight to sup. Please show me to the bathroom My oyster's coming....up! People/Events in Morehead City: Oyster Song If that doesn't work: http://www.clis.com/ccs/lenc/students/Cart...oreheadCityClips/people_eventsMHCMason.htm. Thread 55798: Oyster songs A must read for campaigners for Oyster Rights! Don Marquis, "Revolt of the Oyster," 1922, Doubleday Page Co., pp. 1-17 (and other stories), 229 pp. "Oystershell Road": Have seen many an oyster shell road or driveway in the Gulf Coast area, but not yet seen one in Washington (haven't been on coastal byways there for some years). Now that Washington is a major producer, they may have appeared. Japanese-Canadian fishermen in British Columbia also lost their boats and were interned during WW2, just as they were in the States.. |
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09 Jun 03 - 06:54 PM (#964779) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Skipjack K8 I've a fine rusty old oyster drudge from the Tollesbury and Mersea Native Oyster Company in me shed, and a few shares in said company, redundant as it sadly is. The bonamia took it away. |
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09 Jun 03 - 08:47 PM (#964833) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: mg Washington used to have lots of roads made of oyster shells...used it instead of gravel...what do you mean now that Washington is a major producer? They were extremely important during the gold rush..and during WWII for the military...they have always produced a lot..except for some times when they shut down due to freezes etc. damaging and sometimes destorying their seed oysters...had to change oyster species a couple of times...it is the biggest employer right now in Pacific County Washington....mg |
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10 Jun 03 - 07:36 AM (#964970) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Bat Goddess There's another version of "Oyster Girl" that Brian Peters has recorded -- same story, but slightly different words. (One of which, in the last line, I couldn't figure out; asked Brian what it was and promptly LOST the sheet of paper I had written it on -- as well as my memory, of course.) And a third version, with Manchester, I think, instead of London as well as a slightly different storyline. And another by The Boarding Party -- "The Shanghaied Dredger." (I can post the words if they're wanted.) Linn |
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10 Jun 03 - 08:21 AM (#964991) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Deckman Mary .... what do you mean they are the biggest employer in Pacific county ... heck ... they are the ONLY employer! Bob |
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10 Jun 03 - 08:35 AM (#965000) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Charley Noble Thanks, Q, for another superb song! Reminds me how my dear departed grandfather used to drag me to the local sea food market on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and try to stuff a raw oyster into my mouth. Yuk! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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10 Jun 03 - 01:29 PM (#965203) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Bert Great song Mary! |
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10 Jun 03 - 01:49 PM (#965212) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: Roberto Does somebody have the text of the Dredg Song,as sung by Archie Fisher? I'd like to know the lyrics. Thank you. Roberto |
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10 Jun 03 - 02:02 PM (#965220) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST,mg I would love the words to all these songs and I'll put them in a little booklet for the Interpretive Center..let me know if there are copyright issues please. THere was one mentioned that sounded especially pretty..I can't look back now..about an oyster girl as I recall..think it was in an old thread... mg |
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10 Jun 03 - 02:39 PM (#965248) Subject: RE: Folklore: Oyster songs From: GUEST,Val There's a wonderful (C18th I think) song from 'Pills to Purge Melancholy' called Oyster Nan - but I'm not writing the words down! They're saucy to say the least! |