Some Working Music

Here's a short video on the history of the song "Erie Canal" that we covered in class when we talked about Working Music (sorry I haven't posted on it until now! I was reviewing notes and noticed I had somehow missed posting this. I thought I had.)

It was nice to sing because I actually sang a version of it when I sang in the Women's Chorus at BYU. Good times, especially taking the Alto II part--holy hecka low notes there.

I've got a mule, and her name is Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
She's a good ol' worker an' a good ol' pal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay,
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo.

Chorus:
Low bridge, everybody down!
Low bridge, for we're comin' through a town!
And you'll always know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

2. We'd better look around for a job, ol' gal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal!
'Cause you bet your life I'd never part with Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal!
Git up there, mule, here comes a lock,
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock,
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo.
Chorus

I just also wanted to note here the song we sang in class called "Poverty Knock." I thought it was a perfect tune for what it was meant for: as a working song in mills. The song lilts and knocks just like a loom would. perfect.

It just surprises me that music can be so versatile. I think people sometimes put too much emphasis on the words, but I think in many cases, especially in working tunes, the music tells just as much of a story as the words.

Erie Canal is slow, plodding. It sounds like a mule pulling along a barge. Poverty Knock sounds like a loom. Sea shanties time the pulling of a rigging. Slave songs often beat in time with hoes or shovels.

It's been interesting to read about Lumberjack songs in this context. I had noticed that all of the songs seemed to lack this work-tune quality. Most were ballads (beginings with "Come allyou shanty-boys" or "Come join me fine young men") that sought to tell a story more than keep up the work. The only exception I found was a short selection from American Songbag that had a one-line melody meant to keep lumbermen pulling when putting logs up on a steam engine.

In general though, there were no group songs in the forests. Lumberjacks worked mostly in very small groups or as solitary figures or pairs. In the camps, one man would be singled out for his voice or his willingness to sing, and he would then be the camp entertainer of sorts. The men mostly listened to him in their shanties after a long day at work. Men sometimes sang together, but it wasn't the norm, and this is very evident in the actual melodies of the working songs, not really in the words.