Katahdin
One night as I lay a-keeping my silent watch alone,
Some rambling thoughts came in my mind, causing me for to roam,
To go and leave Katahdin and the girl I do adore,
I thought it fit for to take a trip, the wild woods to explore.
I took my true love by the hand and to help her I did say,
“My train it leaves tomorrow, my dear I must away,
But as we gently glide along, we will cause every tavern to roar,
Drinking health to old Katahdin and the girls we do adore.”
Katahdin it’s a pretty place with pretty girls therein,
You’d think that they were nightingales, were you to hear them sing,
And little lambs they sport and play all by their mother’s side,
And the salmon, trout and pickerel in the streams do gently glide.
When I arrived in Sancook the people gathered round,
They said I wasn’t able, the tall pine to cut down,
But I could hire as a cookee if I kept snug and clean,
Well, that was the very first time that I missed Katahdin green.
Well, the winter is now over, and the teams, they’re coming out,
Our boss he calls the men to him to hire them for the route,
“It is to those who will stay here, high wages I’ll pay to ye,
And when the lumber is in Old Town you routers may go free.”
My hand it’s growing tired, no more can I pen down,
I hope our boss’s lumber arrives safe in Old Town,
And when we get to Bangor, we will cause every tavern to roar,
Drinking health to old Katahdin and the girls we do adore.
The Penobscot word for “great mountain” gives us the name Katahdin for the tallest mountain in the state of Maine. In small towns like those near Mount Katahdin it was once common for teenaged boys to set out in the fall in search of winter employment in a live-in logging camp. Some such boys had fathers who came from the north of Ireland where seasonal work at harvest time in Scotland drew young men over the North Channel each year. This could explain why “Katahdin” seems to be a variant of the song known in the north of Ireland as “Brockagh Brae” or “The Roslea Farewell” (Roud 5171) that references the Ireland to Scotland work pattern.
I developed the above version based on that collected from Ambrose Herrell in Prince Edward Island and printed in Folksongs from Prince Edward Island by Randall and Dorothy Dibblee. I recorded it on the album Minnesota Lumberjack Songs and plan to release a new version with Danny Diamond on the upcoming Northern Shores album. The PEI version is still my favorite but I have since discovered interesting variants collected in Michigan, New Brunswick and West Virginia.