Emigrant from Newfoundland, The

DESCRIPTION: "Dear Newfoundland have I got to leave you To seek employment in a foreign land? Forced by our nation by cruel taxation...." He thinks back to good times around St John's but now must emigrate to work. He hopes the younger generation may stay at home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (MUNFLA/Leach)
KEYWORDS: grief emigration farewell unemployment hardtimes lament poverty
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 360-361, "The Emigrant from Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea360 (Partial)
RECORDINGS:
Michael Murphy, "The Emigrant's Farewell" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Andrew Nash, "The Emigrant from Newfoundland" (on PeacockCDROM)

NOTES [66 words]: The lyrics of this song remind me very much of "Farewell, Charming Nancy" [Laws K14], though only a few words are actually the same; the Dorian tune also seems related.
Michael P. Murphy, Pathways through Yesterday, edited by Gerald S. Moore, Town Crier Publishing, 1976, pp. 147-148, quotes a verse of this, attributes it to J. T. Kinsella, and says that the tune is "The Bells of Shandon." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: Pea360

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