Fox River Line, The (The Rock Island Line) [Laws C28]

DESCRIPTION: The singer (and men of many nations) work in George Allan's camp without earning any money. He decides to get another job
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: logger poverty boss work
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar,Ont,Que)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws C28, "The Fox River Line (The Rock Island Line)"
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 93, "The Rock Island Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 116, "Fox River Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-LumberingSongsFromTheNorthernWoods #11, "The Rock Island Line" (2 texts, tune referenced)
Ives-FolksongsOfNewBrunswick, pp. 119-123, "The Scantling Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 41, "The Scantaling Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck-TheyKnewPaulBunyan, "The East Jordan Line" (1 text)
DT 655, ROCKISL
Roud #643
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The New Limit Line" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Margineau Line
The Keith and Hiles Line
NOTES [114 words]: Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi: "Mr Brown [the singer] credits this song to Larry Gorman, but Sandy Ives, who should know, says he does not believe Larry wrote it. Still it seems to have some Gorman touches. Similar songs are sung in all parts of the Northeast, with names altered to suit." - BS
Gorman could, of course, have localized the song, or someone might have added some Gorman lyrics to an existing song. Some versions, such as Beck's, are so heavily adapted that it's hard to know whether they are truly versions or merely reminiscences; Roud lumps them, but Laws makes no reference to Beck's version.
Not to be confused with "The Rock Island Line" as sung by Lead Belly. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: LC28

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