Jones Boys (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh the Jones Boys! They built a mill on the side of a hill, And they worked all night and they worked all say But they couldn't make that gosh-darn sawmill pay."
AUTHOR: Probably Millet Salter
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi)
KEYWORDS: technology logger commerce
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 27, "The Jones Boys - I" (1 fragment, 1 tune); cf. also the fragment on p. 15
Fowke/Mills/Blume-CanadasStoryInSong, pp. 183-184, "The Jones Boys" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan-PenguinBookOfCanadianFolkSongs 24, "The Jones Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4528
RECORDINGS:
Nick Underhill, "The Jones Boys" (on Miramichi1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jones Boys (II)" (lyrics, people)
NOTES [198 words]: Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi: "John Jones, father of the Jones boys, came out from Camborne, Cornwall, in 1840 .... [The] Jones family moved up to a brook flowing into the Nor'West Miramichi, which then took the name of Jones's Brook. There John Jones built a grist mill to serve the community, and raised a family of ten children. John Senior died in 1866, and his sons, James and John Junior took over the business, James managing the grist mill, and John a sawmill near by."
Are Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 27 [this song] and Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 28 [The Jones Boys - II] the same song? There is no question but that the entire Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 27 text is part of the Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 28 chorus. Wilson's comment on Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 27: "[The tune] slightly resembles the beginning of the chorus of Mr Underhill's complete version [Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 28]. However, this fragment has apparently been in circulation for several generations. The late Lord Beaverbrook knew it as a child in Miramichi. It is unusual to find a fragment assuming its own personality and coexisting with a complete version in the same area." - BS
File: FMB183

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