“Drill Ye Heroes, Drill!”

Description

Working on the northern railroad the, crew proceeds from Gambo in the east, westward to the Hall's Bay Line, to Codroy on the west coast of Newfoundland. The crew are named.

Notes

The song follows the workers along about 400 miles of the 550 mile length of the defunct Newfoundland railroad. The passage today would be closely approximated by driving Trans-Canada 1.

Certainly derivative of "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill" both as to theme and tune though only a few lines are carried over. Ironically, one of the common lines is the "you're docked for the time you were in the sky" though the point is lost since the preceding explosion has been dropped. Further, the senses of hard times and of a tall tale have also been lost. - BS

Cross references

Recordings

  • Ken Peacock, "Drill Ye Heroes, Drill!" (on NFKPeacock)

References

  1. Peacock, pp. 781-782, "Drill Ye Heroes, Drill!" (1 text, 1 tune)
  2. Roud #4436
  3. BI, Pea781

About

Alternate titles: “Drill ye Tarriers”
Author: John Devine
Earliest date: 1952 (Peacock)
Found in: Canada(Newf)