Ole from Norway

DESCRIPTION: Dialect song in which Ole describes coming to the north woods and gives a few details of how he works driving logs down the river. "Ay yus come down from Minnesota/Ay been in this part 'bout three year" but protests that Ole is not his name.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Rickaby-BalladsAndSongsOfTheShantyBoy)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW,Ro)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Rickaby-BalladsAndSongsOfTheShantyBoy 36, "Ole from Norway" (1 text)
Rickaby/Dykstra/Leary-PineryBoys-SongsSongcatchingInLumberjackEra 36, "Ole from Norway" (1 text)
Beck-SongsOfTheMichiganLumberjacks 8, "Ole from Norway" (1 text)
Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps 62, "Ole from Norway" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, p. 462, "Ole from Norway" (1 text)
ST Be008 (Partial)
Roud #8867
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Swede from North Dakota" (theme)
NOTES [72 words]: Without a tune it's impossible to be sure, but the verses suggest that this is a variant of "The Swede from North Dakota" with an added chorus. - PJS
I thought the same thing upon seeing it, but the version in Rickaby-BalladsAndSongsOfTheShantyBoy doesn't quite fit the tune of "The Swede." It may also be older; Rickaby's informant claimed to have learned it c. 1895. If anything, I suspect the dependence goes the other way. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: Be008

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