Newfoundland Exile, The (The Emigrant from Newfoundland)

DESCRIPTION: "Dear Newfoundland have I got to leave you To seek a living on some foreign strand." The singer recalls hills, meadows, playing with other children, and watching the sealers go to sea. But the fishery is failing, and many are forced away
AUTHOR: unknown (possibly JT Kinsella)
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Murphy, Old Colony Song Book)
KEYWORDS: emigration hardtimes fishing
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: James Murphy, compiler/publisher, "(Old Colony Song Book: Newfoundland)," James Murphy, 1904 (available from the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site; the cover is missing, but I suspect it is a copy of "Songs of Our Land"), p. 59, "The Newfoundland Exile" (1 text)
Roud #26347
RECORDINGS:
Gerald Campbell, "The Emigrant From Newfoundland" (on ITMA/CapeShoreNL)
NOTES [113 words]: According to the ITMA/CapeShoreNL notes for this song, "This song may have been composed by JT Kinsella when he emigrated from Newfoundland to settle in Boston, Massachusetts." - BS
I seem to recall several other pieces tentatively linked to Kinsella, with none of the connections ever proved. He seems to have been an elusive figure.
James Murphy, compiler, Songs & Ballads of Terra Nova, Evening Telegram publishing, 1903 (available from the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 36 has another poem entitled "The Newfoundland Exile," credited to "Mr. F. Merchant, F.S.C." It is not the same song; it opens "I remember it now, it was early in spring time." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: JMC059

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