“The Banks of Mullen Stream”

Description

Sandy Grattan sings about the camp "for the firm of Edward Sinclair On the banks of Mullen Stream." The crew and driving team are named. George Amos breaks a leg under a rolling log, showing that "In the woods you're facing danger As great as in the War"

Supplemental text

Banks of Mullen Stream, The
  Partial text(s)

          *** A ***

From Louise Manny and James Reginald Wilson, Songs of Miramichi,
#4, pp. 54-58. From the singing of Perley Hare, Strathadam, 1948.

My name is Sandy Grattan,
  Good grammar I am lacking
But excuse mistakes and listen
  To these few lines I sing
About our cam & camp's crew
  That I have lately come to
For the firm of Edward Sinclair,
  On the banks of Mullen Stream.

(20 additional stanzas)

Notes

Manny/Wilson: "The lumber operation probably took place between 1914 and 1920." Note the reference to World War I. - BS

This is a very peculiar song, probably indicating closeness to the original version. The scansion is weak, and the rhyme scheme defective. In most of the 8-line stanzas, the only rhymes are between lines 1 and 2 and between lines 5 and 6, and even this is violated on occasion -- including the first verse, though in dialect it might work. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "The Edward Sinclair Song" (regarding Sinclair's lumber operation)

References

1. Manny/Wilson 4, "The Banks of Mullen Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. ST MaWi004 (Partial)
3. Roud #9205
4. BI, MaWi004