Beaver Island - evergreentrad

13 May

The Gallagher Boys

Come all brother sailors I hope you’ll draw nigh,
For to hear of the sad news, it will cause you to cry,
Of noble Johnny Gallagher, who sailed to and fro,
He was lost on Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

It was in October in seventy three,
We left Beaver harbor and had a calm sea,
Bound away to Traverse City, our destination to go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

We left Traverse City at nine the next day
And down to Elk Rapids we then bore our way,
We took in our store and to sea we did go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

At nine that same night a light we did spy,
That is Beaver Island, we are drawing nigh,
We carried all sails, the Lookout, she did go,
We were crossing Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

Oh Johnny got up and he spoke to his crew,
He says, “My brave boys, now be steady and true,
Stand by your fore halyards, let your main halyards to,
There’s a squall on Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.”

The Lookout’s she’s a-runnin’ before a hard gale.
Upset went her rudder and overboard went her sail,
The billows were foaming like mountains of snow.
We shall ne’er cross Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.

Says Owen, “Brother Johnny, it grieves my heart sore,
To think we will never return to the shore,
God help our poor parents, their tears down will flow,
For we’ll sleep in Lake Michigan where the stormy winds blow.”

I am looking forward to a talk on the Irish music of Beaver Island, Michigan that I will be giving in June at the Center for Irish Music’s Minnesota Irish Music Weekend! In anticipation of that, I thought I would share song composed on Beaver Island this month: “The Gallagher Boys.”

Island singer Dominick Gallagher was six years old in 1873 when word came to the island that a boat went down in a gale while making the 70 mile return trip from a supply run to Traverse City. Dominick’s own father, Dominick Sr., had left on the same boat and was assumed to be among the lost.

“…when the news came and the report was that all hands was lost, I remember runnin’ and hangin’ around mother. I couldn’t realize what they were all cryin’ about. I had six sisters and they were all home and they were all cryin’, too. That night they had a wake and all, just as though he was there, and all the next day the neighbors came around.”
-Dominick Gallagher to Alan Lomax, 1938
(transcribed from this recording)

Miraculously, Dominick Sr. returned the next day. His friend Captain Roddy had also been in Traverse City and had convinced him not to make the crossing. Still, the Beaver Islanders who did venture out (including a Johnny Gallagher) were lost and the above song was composed shortly after by local song-maker Dan Malloy.

Above is my transcription of Dominick’s own melody and four verse text as sung for Lomax with the addition of three verses (1, 4 and 5 above) that were sung that same year by fellow Islander Johnny Green who had a much longer version of the song.

13 May

The County Tyrone

My parents oft times told me, they never could control me,
That a weaver they would make me if I’d stay at home,
But I took another notion of a higher promotion,
To try other countries as well as Tyrone.

When I came to Newry, it was there I fell a-courting,
A charming young girl for a wife of-a my own,
But when I came to view her she would not endure me,
For oft times she told me I was married at home.

Continually weaving I spent that whole season,
Oh thinking my true love, she would change her mind,
When at last I contracted, she instantly asked me,
“Kind sir, your character?” from the County Tyrone.

It is for my character you need never ask me,
For married or promised I never was to no’one,
She swore by her conscience that she would run all chances,
And travel along with me to the County Tyrone.

Oh early next morning, as the day was a-dawning,
We took a short ramble down by the mile stone,
A guard did pursue us, but they could not come to us,
I was wishing in my heart I had her in Tyrone.

With great toil and trouble our course we did double,
We met an old man that was walking alone,
He told them where he met us and where they would get us,
And that we were still talking of the County Tyrone

The canal it was near us where vessels were lying,
I jumped onto one and my case I made known,
They threw a plank to us, and on shipboard they drew us,
And told us the vessel was bound for Tyrone.

Now I am landed in my own native country,
And in spite of her parents I’ve got her at home,
Now my song for to finish she’s my love Jenny Innes,
And I’m bold McGuinness from the County Tyrone.

Beaver Island, Michigan singer John W. Green (1871-1964) learned “The County Tyrone” from his uncle (probably Peter O’Donnell, another singer born on the island). Song collector Ivan Walton recalls the night he, his son Lynn, islander Dominick Gallagher and collector Alan Lomax commenced their recording session with Green in August 1938 this way: “Lomax, Dominick Gallagher, Lynn and I and some beer drove out to John Green’s and found him quite talkative. We set up the recording machine and didn’t take it down until about 1 a.m.” My transcription of Green singing “The County Tyrone” for Lomax’s recording machine is above. The recording is accessible here on the loc.gov site.

Green’s is the only version of this song collected in North America. It is known in the north of Ireland and appears in Sam Henry’s Songs of the People as well as in the repertoires of Robert Cinnamond, Joe Holmes, Brian Mullen and others. The sweet melody, internal rhyming and detailed story of a successful elopement make it a song worth singing!

13 May

Roll Her to the Wall

As I rode out one evening down by a shady lane,
I overheard Jim Johnson, a keeper of the game,
He says unto his servant maid “If it wasn’t for the law,
I’d take you by the slender waist and roll you to the wall.”

“Hold your tongue you young man and do not bother me,
Before you lie one night with me you must get me dishes three,
Three dishes you must get for me; suppose I eat them all,
Before you’ll lie one night with me at either stock or wall.

“For my breakfast you must have a fish without a bone,
And for my dinner you must have a cherry without a stone,
And for my supper you must have a bird without a gall,
Before you lie one night with me at either stock or wall.”

“When the fish it is all in its spawn I’m sure it has no bone,
When the cherry is in blossom I’m sure it has no stone,
The dove it is a gentle bird, it flies without a gall,
So you I in one bed lie, and you lie next the wall.”

“Hold your tongue you young man and do not me perplex,
Before you lie one night with me you must answer questions six,
Six questions you must answer me if I should ask them all,
Before you lie one night with me at either stock or wall.

“What is rounder than a ring? What’s higher than a tree?
Or what is worse than womankind and deeper than the sea?
What bird flies first? What flower blooms first? Or where does the dew first fall?
Before you lie one night with me at either stock or wall.”

“The earth is rounder than a ring, heaven’s higher than a tree,
The devil is worse than womankind, hell’s deeper than the sea,
The thrush flies first, the lily blooms first and the dew on the leaves first falls,
If those questions true I’ve answered you, now you lie next the wall.”

This couple they got married and happy now do dwell,
It’s every night when they go to bed into his arms she’ll crawl,
[use melody of 4th line:] He’ll take her by the slender waist and roll her to the wall.

The collection of “English and Scottish Popular Ballads” compiled by Harvard English professor Francis James Child in the late 1800s was so comprehensive and influential that the designation “Child ballad” continues to be used today, often complete with the ballad’s “Child number.” Professor Child endeavored to limit his collection to “traditional” (i.e. older) ballads and to discard more modern creations including “come-all-ye”-type story songs. In the pine woods of the Great Lakes region, it was precisely these come-all-ye ballads, along with even newer popular forms, that made up the bulk of singers’ repertoires. Child ballads turn up in Great Lakes collections, but they are far outnumbered by these other types.

This month we have the first Child ballad that has appeared in this column. The above “Roll Her to the Wall” is my composite of two Michigan versions of Child 46: “Captain Wedderburn’s Courtship.” My primary source was Alan Lomax’s 1938 recording of Beaver Island singer Dominic Gallagher. To help the riddles make a little more sense, I borrowed some words from verses in another version collected by Gardner and Chickering from Eliza Youngs of Greenville, Michigan in 1939. As with all recordings of Gallagher (in my opinion) his plaintive and subtly ornamented singing is beautiful and worth a listen via the Library of Congress’ online archive!