Big Sam

DESCRIPTION: Big Sam starts a job at the plant cutting seal fat. Tiring of that he starts skinning pelts. He has enough of that and works emptying a long boat until he's had enough of that. He decides at the end that "I'll work here no more, the work is too fast"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast)
KEYWORDS: commerce humorous worker
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 72, "Big Sam" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab072 (Partial)
Roud #9982
NOTES [152 words]: Although Leach says that this song is about a man who works in seal rendering, I think it possible that it refers to the actual hunting of seals instead. Both those who worked on the ships and those who worked in the fat factories had to cut fat -- a seal hunter, when he killed a seal, "sculped" it -- i.e. cut away the skin and fat to bring to the ship, leaving the rest behind. When the "sculps" came to the plants, the workers there cut off the skin and put the fat into the vats for rendering down. Other than the reference to the "plant," I can't see anything that would let us decide between the two.
Whichever it is, I strongly suspect that the ship name Danny R in the next-to-last verse is an error. There was no sealing ship by that name. There was, however, a famous sealer named Diana ("Dianar"; "Dyan R"), for which see "Arrival of 'Aurora,' 'Diana,' 'Virginia Lake,' and 'Vanguard,' Loaded." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: LLab072

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