Southern Shore Queen

DESCRIPTION: "It's concerning the harbour of Cape Broyle ... we will call it The Southern Shore Queen"; "Now Cape Broyle is famed for its beauty." The song lists the attributes of beautiful Cape Broyle
AUTHOR: almost certainly Gertrude Carew Cahill
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports)
KEYWORDS: pride lyric nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland, "Southern Shore Queen" (1 text, 1 tune): p. 55 in the 3rd edition
Blondahl-NewfoundlandersSing, p. 47, "Southern Shore Queen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports, pp. 343-345, "The Southern Shore Queen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7312
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Southern Shore Queen" (on NFOBlondahl04)
NOTES [214 words]: Cape Broyle is on the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula, about 40 miles south of St John's - BS
In 2007, Andrea Tarvin, a relative of the author, wrote to me with background on the song. I quote her letter: "The song... was originally recorded by Omar Blondahl. The song was written by Gertrude Carew Cahill. She would have been the daughter of Arthur Carew from Shore's Cove, Cape Broyle, who was my great grandmother's brother. She died here in St. John's about three years ago and before she died they had a birthday party for her in St. Patricks Mercy Home at a which time they printed off the words to this song and passed it around for everyone to sing. The Downhomer...a local publication....had an article published about four to five years ago that read "Southern Shore Queen Mystery Solved." In this article they showed that Gertrude Carew Cahill wrote this song...and she played the accordian as well.... Everyone on the Southern Shore is in agreement that Gertrude wrote this song." - RBW
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports's version was recorded by Peacock in 1951 at Cape Broyle, so the song was at least in very local circulation before Blondahl came to Newfoundland. It was one of Blondahl's radio favorites when I got to St. John's at the end of 1955. - BS
Last updated in version 6.0
File: Doyl3055

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