Logger's Alphabet, The

DESCRIPTION: A song by which lumbermen remember the alphabet and tell of their "merry" lives: "A is for axes as all of you know / And B is for boys who can use them also.... So merry, so merry, so merry are we / No mortals on earth are as happy as we"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Maine Sportsman, Volume XI, No. 126, February 1904, according to Gray-SongsAndBalladsOfTheMaineLumberjacks)
KEYWORDS: logger nonballad lumbering wordplay | alphabet
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (27 citations):
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, pp. 207-208, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a sort of personalized appendix, "The Shantyboy's Song," on p. 209)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 112-113, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text)
Flanders/Ballard/Brown/Barry-NewGreenMountainSongster, pp. 169-171, "The Woodsman's Alphabet" (1 text plus several variants, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 235-237, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, pp. 30-32, "THe Lumberman's Alphabet" (2 texts)
Beck-FolkloreOfMaine, pp. 265-266, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 3, "The Woodsman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bethke-AdirondackVoices, pp. 59-60, "The Lumberjack's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 262-263, "(no title)" (1 text plus a few variant lines)
Gray-SongsAndBalladsOfTheMaineLumberjacks, pp. 10-14, "The Alphabet Song" (3 texts, the "A" text being from the Maine Sportsman and the "C" text from JAFL XXXV)
Rickaby-BalladsAndSongsOfTheShantyBoy 6, "The Shanty-Man's Alphabet" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Rickaby/Dykstra/Leary-PineryBoys-SongsSongcatchingInLumberjackEra 6, "The Shanty-Man's Alphabet" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 102, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text plus an excerpt and mention of 5 more)
Lewis-FavoriteMichiganFolkSongs, p. 14, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-LumberingSongsFromTheNorthernWoods #1 , "The Shantyboy's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume-CanadasStoryInSong, pp. 168-170, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 98, "Alphabet Song (Lumberman's)" (1 text; the "A" and "B" texts in this entry are "The Sailor's Alphabet")
Ives-FolksongsOfNewBrunswick, pp. 87-90, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 82, "The Lumberman's Alphabet (The Axe-Handle Song)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfNewEnglandFolklore, pp. 564-565, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck-SongsOfTheMichiganLumberjacks 5, "Alphabet Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Beck-TheyKnewPaulBunyan, pp. 33-36, "Alphabet Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps 13, "Alphabet Song" (2 texts)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 173-175, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 335-336, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Ivan H. Watson, "Folk Singing on Beaver Island," Volume 2, Number 4 (Winter 1952), p. 247, "The Shantyman's Alphabet" (reference only)
DT, LUMBALPH*
Roud #21101
RECORDINGS:
Sam Campbell, "The Shantyboys' Alphabet" (on Lumber01)
Sam Eskin, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (on GrowOn3)
Rachel Gall, "The Lumberjack's Waltz" (Piotr-Archive #630, recorded 08/05/2023; learned from Tom Hanford, who also recorded it in the Piotr archive)
Tom Hanford, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (Piotr-Archive #649, recorded 08/16/2023)
Wilmot MacDonald, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (on Miramichi1)
Martin Reddigan, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Gus Schaffer, "Lumberjack's Alphabet" (on AFS, 1938; on LC56)
Marge Steiner, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (on Steiner01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sailor's Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "The Bawdy Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "A Is for Apple Pie" (subject)
cf. "Alphabet Song (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Average Boy" (subject)
cf. "Alphabet Songs" (subject)
cf. "Building a Slide" (tune, lyrics)
cf. "The Fisherman's Alphabet" (subject and structure)
cf. "Air Force Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "The Army Song" (subject)
cf. "The Bargeman's Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "The Artillery Alphabet" (subject)
NOTES [106 words]: Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland claims that there are unprintable versions of this song, but it's not clear (since she doesn't print them) whether they are really lumber-camp versions or just forms of the various bawdy alphabets.
She also says that the song has been attributed to Larry Gorman -- but what hasn't been?
Although all collections of this song appear to be from the twentieth century, chances are that it dates from the 1860s or earlier; by the 1870s, the crosscut saw was replacing the axe as the standard method for felling trees -- but most versions of this have multiple references to axes and few if any to saws. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: Doe207

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