Jones Boys (II), The

DESCRIPTION: The two Jones Boys each "owned a mill in the side of a hill.... They worked all night and they worked all day But they couldn't make the gosh-darned saw-mill pay." The song goes through the seasons. The singer hopes to work for them again in the spring.
AUTHOR: probably James Barry of Derby Junction (Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi)
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi)
KEYWORDS: commerce lumbering hardtimes work
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 28, "The Jones Boys - II" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi028 (Partial)
RECORDINGS:
Nick Underhill, "The Jones Boys" (on Miramichi1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jones Boys (I)" (lyrics, people)
NOTES [197 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 [The Jones Boys (I)] and Manny/Wilson-SongsOfMiramichi 28 [this piece] 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: MaWi028

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