Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
A2024.010.003 |
Title |
Shantyboy's Alphabet |
Object Name |
Print, Linocut |
Date |
2022 |
Collection |
Rob Niezen fonds |
Scope & Content |
Item is a linocut print titled "Shantyboy's Alphabet". The scene feautres three men standing behind a pile of cut logs at the centre of the image facing the viewer, the middle man wearing a wide brim hat and strumming a banjo. The men to his left and right appear to be wearing flat caps. Behind them are a team of horses with a skid of logs and in the far background appears to be a person riding a zipline through the trees. |
Description Note |
The song "Shantyboy's Alphabet" evolved from the 19th century mariner’s folk-song The Sailor’s Alphabet, which provided a seagoing expression for each letter of the alphabet. This lumbering version replaces marine language with lumbering language. It first appeared in northern Maine and New Brunswick in the 1900s. It was eventually heard by Ontario lumbermen and recorded by Edith Fowke in the 1950s from Peterborough area folk-singers such as Emerson Woodcock. The lyrics varied at times depending upon the singer. The last verse of this version points to the current ecological issues around logging and tourism claiming a larger part in the use of Canadian forests. Shantyboy’s Alphabet Traditional; arrangement and additional lyrics by Rob Niezen G C G A is for the axe that cutteth the pine C Am D And B is for Billy Boy, he’s never behind G Emin C is for chopping we early begin, Am G D G D G And D is for danger we often are in. E is for the echos that through the woods ring F is for the foreman, the boss of our gang. G is for the grindstone, we grind our axe on, H is for the handle so smoothly worn. Chorus So merry, so merry, so merry are we, No mortal on earth as happy as we. Saw away, haul away, we chop with a song Give a shanty boy whiskey and nothing goes wrong. I is for the iron, that marks all our pine, J is for jolly boys always on time. K is for a keen edge on our axes we keep L is for the lice that keep us from sleep. M is for the moss we chink in our camps, N is for the needle, we sew up our pants, O is for the owls that hoot through the night P is for the pine that fall in daylight. Q is for quarrelling, we do not allow R is for the rivers the logs they do plough S is for the sled it’s stout and it’s strong T is for the teams that haul them along. U is for the use we put our teams to, V is for the valley we force our roads through, W is for the woods we leave in the spring Of the other three letters tomorrow I’ll sing. X marks the spots that are all clear-cut Y is for the yards that have all been shut Z’s for zip lines that f ly through the pines And now we have brought all the letters in rhyme Source CROSS CUT Traditional Ontario Folk Songs Revisited History, Lyrics & Chords Introductions by Dr. Allan Kirby Illustrations by Rob Niezen |
Creator |
Niezen, Rob |
Physical Description |
1 print 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm, < 1 cm extent |
Parent ObjectID |
A2024.010 |