Peter Amberley [Laws C27]

DESCRIPTION: Peter Amberly leaves Prince Edward Island to go lumbering in New Brunswick. Fatally injured in a logging accident, he bids farewell to the father whose unkindness sent him away, to his mother, sweetheart, and home
AUTHOR: John Calhoun (sometimes attributed to Larry Gorman)
EARLIEST DATE: 1902 (Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine)
KEYWORDS: logger death farewell father
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
around Jan. 1881 - Peter Amberly is fatally wounded. He is eighteen years old, and has been in the woods less than a year
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (27 citations):
Laws C27, "Peter Amberley"
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, pp. 225-233, "Peter Emberley" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Gray-SongsAndBalladsOfTheMaineLumberjacks, pp. 63-69, "Peter Ambelay" (3 texts)
Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, pp. 98-103, "Peter Amberley" (3 texts)
Beck-FolkloreOfMaine, pp. 255-257, "Peter Amberly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Ballard/Brown/Barry-NewGreenMountainSongster, pp. 115-117, "Peter Emery" (1 badly damaged text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 164, "Peter Hembly" (1 text)
Fowke/Johnston-FolkSongsOfCanada, pp. 80-81, "Peter Amberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan-PenguinBookOfCanadianFolkSongs 27, "Peter Emberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 138, "Peter Rambelay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 118, "Peter Emberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 102-103, "Peter Emberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports, pp. 306-308, "Peter Emberley (Peter Hembly; Peter Amberley)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 116, "Peter Ambelay" (1 text)
Dibblee/Dibblee-FolksongsFromPrinceEdwardIsland, p. 33, "Peter Emberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DriveDullCareAway-PrinceEdwardIsland, pp. 235-236,252-253, "Peter Emberly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-FolksongsOfNewBrunswick, pp. 99-103, "Peter Emberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 38, "Peter Emberley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 5, "Adieu to Prince Edward's Isle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 269-272, "Peter Emily" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 270-273, "Peter Emberly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck-SongsOfTheMichiganLumberjacks 9, "Peter Ambelay" (1 text)
Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps 31, "Peter Ambelay" (1 text)
Fowke-LumberingSongsFromTheNorthernWoods #36, "Peter Emery" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 258-264, "Mary Hamilton" (the "C" fragment actually comes from a text of this song rather than a version of "Mary Hamilton")
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 181-182, "Peter Emberly" (1 text)
DT 608, PTRMBRLY* PTRMBRL2
Roud #668
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Peter Amberly" (on NFOBlondahl04)
John Conners, "Peter Hennessey" (on MUNFLA-Leach)
Chris Greencorn, "Peter Amberley" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #687, recorded 09/26/2023)
Marie Hare, "Peter Emberley" (on MRMHare01)
Wilmot McDonald, "Peter Emberley" (on Miramichi1)
Pat Murphy, "Peter Amberly" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Marge Steiner, "Peter Emberley" (on Steiner01)
Annie Walters, "Peter Emberly" (on NFAGuigné01)
unidentified, "Peter Amberly" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farmer and the Shanty Boy" (tune)
cf. "The Farmer's Boy" [Laws Q30] (tune)
cf. "John Ladner" (plot)
NOTES [151 words]: Details about this song are sketchy. The name of the youth was probably spelled "Amberley" but was generally pronounced "Emberly." (Paul Stamler points out that Louise Manny records the spelling "Amberley" on his tombstone, but it is not contemporary).
The original tune has also been lost; when John Calhoun asked Abraham Munn to set a tune, Munn also added a stanza, and Calhoun withdrew the modified text from circulation.
According to his tombstone Amberley was born in 1863. He died some time after Christmas Day, 1880. - RBW
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi has a detailed account of the accident and burial, the spelling and pronunciation of the name, and the replacement of the original grave marker with a monument. Warning: "A legend has grown up about the song -- that it is unlucky to sing it in the woods. If it is sung the night before a drive, the woodsmen say, someone is sure to be killed." - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LC27

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