Ned McCabe

DESCRIPTION: "I'm a fine old Irish laborer, from Ireland I came, To try me luck on Columbia's shore, and Ned McCabe's my name." His fortune has been hard, but he bears it with a smile. He has gone far to the west to log. He can drink twenty jiggers without stumbling
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1926 (Rickaby/Dykstra/Leary-PineryBoys-SongsSongcatchingInLumberjackEra)
KEYWORDS: immigration lumbering work drink hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Rickaby/Dykstra/Leary-PineryBoys-SongsSongcatchingInLumberjackEra 60, "Ned McCabe" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [123 words]: Although this song is claims to be about a man who went from "the banks of the Mississippi" to the Black Hills, it clearly swallowed some other song about someone who went mining somewhere other than the Dakotas. The song says that the miner came to a point 500 miles from the Mines of Carribou by *ship*. In other words, by sea. The Dakotas are more than 500 miles from the sea in all directions. Presumably the miner came by boat up the Mississippi to Saint Paul. This would put him aout 625 miles from the Black Hills -- not too far from the 500 miles of the song. The song also claims there were "tigers in full view" on the path to the mines. I presume it goes without saying that there are no tigers in Minnesota or the Dakotas. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.3
File: RDL60

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