History Commons^™

The Irish Patriot, Dale Potter

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"The Irish Patriot" is a mysterious song. Judging by the title alone, one would guess it is of Irish origin, and after listening, the story told in the ballad would seem to confirm this suspicion. However, the song has only ever been collected in Maine, where it was likely a popular song among woodsmen, and the Maritime provinces of Canada.

The Picnic At Groshaut, Art Cahill

Maine Song and Story Sampler

In Drive Dull Care Away: Folksongs from Prince Edward Island, Sandy Ives wrote, "This is one of those local songs you have to know something about ahead of time before it makes much sense, and the singing of it will almost always lead to comment on what really happened."

The Champion Of Moose Hill, Raymond Mace

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“The Champion of Moose Hill” tells the true, comic story of a dance gone awry for one poor, inebriated soul.

The Banks Of Newfoundland, Mabel Worcester

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"The Banks of Newfoundland" is the title of at least six different songs. These are not variations on a single tune, but entirely different songs with different airs and lyrics. All share a common theme - the dangers of fishing or sailing off the coast of Newfoundland - but none are very similar.

Pumpkin Seed Tea Cure, Elsie Diamond Smith

Maine Song and Story Sampler

In the short anecdote heard here, Elsie Smith explains her experience with pumpkin seed tea and how she saw it work.

Young Charlotte (Or Fair Charlotte), Ernest Lord

Maine Song and Story Sampler

Young Charlotte is an old ballad native to North America. It has been a popular ballad all over North America from Newfoundland to South Dakota, and widely studied. It was so popular, in fact, that it inspired a doll called Frozen Charlotte.

The Blackwater Side, Bill Cramp

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"The Blackwater Side" is one of many songs that came to Maine from the British Tradition. It is, as Bill Cramp called it, a "long love song." This ballad is one in a series of songs that consist of true lovers' discussions, but none are any more good humored than "The Blackwater Side."

The Depot Camp, Bill Cramp

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The song, written by James O’Hara, a woodsman from Maine, described the lumbering operation owned and operated by James McNulty of Bangor, Maine.

The Soldier’S Letter, Joseph Pagett

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“The Soldier’s Letter” was one of several songs from the American Civil War that became popular in Canada.

Cod Liver Oil, Omer Mckenna

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Cod Liver Oil" was a popular song from Newfoundland, so popular in fact that many have claimed it as a Newfoundland song. It's origins, however, are not so clearly traced.

The Teamster In Jack Macdonald’S Crew, Joseph Walsh

Maine Song and Story Sampler

When Walsh sang "The Teamster in Jack MacDonald's Crew" for Sandy Ives, it was a song he had never heard before and did not hear from anyone after, despite his best efforts to find it. Walsh either learned the song while working near Katahdin Iron Works around 1911 or from a friend back on PEI, he was not entirely sure.

Wild Colonial Boy, Thomas Cleghorn

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Wild Colonial Boy" is one of a few songs that came to Maine from Australia by way of Britain. This particular version was collected in Canada, but the singer learned it in the Maine woods, a point that underscores the close connections of Maine and the Maritimes economically and culturally.

John Roberts, Clarence Berry

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“John Roberts” is one of many woods songs that tells the sad tale of a river driver who died on the job.

The Schooner E.A. Horton, Margaret Hallett

Maine Song and Story Sampler

This song, which is native to Massachusetts, is based on a true story. On September 1, 1871 the E. A. Horton a Gloucester-based schooner was captured by the Canadian authorities in Nova Scotia.

Blueberries & Leathery Ice, Lindsey Smallidge

Maine Song and Story Sampler

A pair of tall tales from Mount Desert Island.

Northeast Folklore Volume 5: Twenty-One Folksongs From Prince Edward Island, Edward D. Ives

Northeast Folklore Monographs

From the introduction by Edward D. "Sandy" Ives: "The twenty-one songs printed in this little volume are a representative sample of the songs I collected on Prince Edward Island during the summers of 1957, 1958, and 1963. ... As a matter of fact, I wasn't even "collecting songs" in the usual sense of that term; I was very specifically looking for songs by Larry Gorman and for biographical. Information about him, and when L wasn't asking about Larry Gorman I was asking about Joe Scott. Thus the present collection is neither the result of my general acquaintance with the traditions …

Kluskap And His Twin Brother, Viola Solomon, Henrietta Black

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The story heard here is one of many Wabanaki tales of Kluskap, a Wabanaki culture-hero.

The Good Old State Of Maine, James Brown

Maine Song and Story Sampler

People have likely been singing, whistling, and humming while working for as long as music and work have existed. This relationship has developed twofold, both as a way to make work go faster (either by passing the time or establishing a rhythm for work) and as a means of expressing discontent with work or working conditions.

Canaday-I-O, Robert French

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The major recurring theme in these folksongs from Maine and Maritime Canada is the flow of cultural products and people within the area of New Hampshire, Maine, and eastern Canada. But while this cultural and demographic exchange helped define the region, it did not mean there was no rivalry or animosity between states, provinces, or nations.

The Bull Moose Song, Linwood Brown

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"The Bull Moose Song" is a local lumber camp satire, with the joke at the expense of the operator, Frankie Malcolm.

Old Horse Or The Sailor’S Grace, Robert French

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Old Horse" is an old sea song (dating at least back to the 1830s, and probably long before that) that expresses sailors' dissatisfaction with the quality of their food.

Heenan And Sayers, Mrs. Elwood Nickerson

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The ballad "Heenan and Sayers" described an event so popular that it overshadowed a civil war.

The Dungarvon Whooper, Billy Price

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The Dungarvon Whooper is arguably the most famous ghost in New Brunswick (the Burning Ship of Northumberland Strait is also widely known in eastern Canada, but multiple provinces can claim it as “their ghost”).

Northeast Folklore Volume 4: Eight Folktales From Miramichi, Edward D. Ives, Wilmot Macdonald, Louise Manny

Northeast Folklore Monographs

Volume 4 of Northeast Archives marked a change in the publication. No longer was it published in four editions throughout the year with a variety of small articles, but now it was a single monograph published generally once a year. The focus of the first monograph is Wilmot MacDonald, a singer and storyteller from Miramichi, New Brunswick. Helen Creighton and Edward D. Ives had both collected from MacDonald and this publication came from their collaboration on that material.

Eight Folktales from Miramichi: as Told by Wilmot MacDonald

Table of Contents:

Wilmot MacDonald by Louise Manny

Introduction

1) The Bull Story …

Glou Glou Glou, Allan Kelly

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Glou" appears in Helen Creighton's collection of Acadian folksongs, La Fleur du Rosier, as the "B" version of a song called "Le Matin Quand je me Leve," or "In the Morning When I Get Up." Both are versions of a French song well-known in French Canada and Louisiana, with a version dating back to at least 1658.

The Headless Ghost, Wilmot Macdonald

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“The Headless Ghost” is a common story told with too many variations to count.

Guy Reed, Philip Walsh

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Guy Reed" is one of several songs by one of the great woods songmakers in Maine and the Maritimes, Joe Scott. Guy Reed, son of Joseph and Remember Mitchell Reed, was born in 1874 in the Byron, Maine area, and died in a logging accident just a few miles above Livermore Falls, Maine, on September 9, 1897.

Benjamin Deane, Chester Price

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“Benjamin Deane” is a classic example of a confessional ballad, with a man in prison lamenting how he came to be there: bootlegging, adultery, and murder.

The Cambric Shirt, Jennie Gray

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"The Cambric Shirt" is one of the many British ballads chronicled by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century. The song is titled "The Elfin Knight" in Child's collection, and "The Cambric Shirt" is one of many names of the many variations on the song.

Northeast Folklore Volume 3 Numbers 1-4, Edward D. Ives

Northeast Folklore Monographs

The third issue of Northeast Folklore was published in the spring of 1959 under the editorship of Edward D. Ives (known as Sandy) and Bacil F. Kirtley through the Department of English at the University of Maine. The four editions that year were later bound into a single volume.

Table of Contents:

Number 1 (Spring):

The Legend of Molly Ockett by Joseph A. Perham

A Penobscot Indian Story of Colonial Maine by Nicholas N. Smith

The Maid of Tide Head

Notes and Queries

Book Review
Bluenose Ghosts (Creighton) by Horace P. Beck

Number 2 (Summer):

Bibliography of New England-Maritimes Folklore …