“James Whalen”
Description
Jim Whalen is told by his foreman to help clear a logjam. When the jam breaks, he is thrown into the rapids and drowned.
Notes
Rickaby reports this to be based on an actual incident, in which James Phalen (so spelled; pronounced Whalen) died at "King's Chute" on the Mississippi River. (That's the Canadian Mississippi, a tributary of the Ottawa). Rickaby's informant, Cristopher Forbes, is the source of the claim that John Smith of Lanark wrote the song.
The date of the event is uncertain; Rickaby states it was in 1878, but Fowke quotes Phalen's grand-niece to the effect that the date was 1876. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "Lost Jimmie Whalen" [Laws C8] (subject)
Recordings
- Emerson Woodcock, "Jimmie Whelan" (on Lumber01)
References
- Laws C7, "James Whalen"
- Doerflinger, pp. 243-244, "Whalen's Fate (George Whalen)"
- Rickaby 3, "Jim Whalen" (2 texts, 1 tune)
- Gardner/Chickering 110, "James Wayland" (1 text)
- Fowke/Johnston, pp. 82-83, "Jim Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Fowke-Lumbering #31, "Jimmy Whelan" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Fowke/MacMillan 25, "Jimmy Whelan" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 39-41, "James Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Sandburg, p. 389, "James Whaland" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Beck 53, "James Whalen" (1 text)
- DT 601, JMMYWHEL*
- Roud #638
- BI, LC07