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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Old Beggar Man, Edmund Doucette

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“The Old Beggar Man” is a version of Child 17, “Hind Horn.” It is believed to have originated in Scotland and possibly derived from the 13^th century King Horn and other related medieval romances.

Northeast Folklore Volume 1 Numbers 1-4, Edward D. Ives, Richard M. Dorson, Miriam B. Webster, Bacil F. Kirtley, Alden A. Nowlan, Raymond Whitely, Frank A. Hoffmann

Northeast Folklore Monographs

The first ever issue of Northeast Folklore was published in the spring of 1958 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):

Mishaps of a Maine Lobsterman

Maine Winter Menus: A Study in Ingenuity

“Young Jimmy Foulger:” A Hitherto Unrecorded Ballad in the Northeast

John Ellis – Hunter, Guide, Legend

Number 2 (Summer):

Bibliography of New England-Maritimes Folklore

Selected Bibliography of New England-Maritimes Folklore Collections and …