Clifton's Crew, The

DESCRIPTION: "We have heard of many happenings since last year first began, With crimes and troubles caused by war and earthquakes in Japan," but the wreck of the Clifton brought sorrow hom. The singer lists some of the dead, and hopes for their salvation
AUTHOR: probably Pat Bonnar
EARLIEST DATE: 2002 (Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, which does not list an informant)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck religious family
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 21/22, 1924 - Loss of the _Clifton_
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 181-184, "The Clifton's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #19837
RECORDINGS:
Patrick Bonner, "The Clifton's Crew" (1938; on WaltonSailors -- curiously, although recorded from the supposed author, the recording begins with the ninth verse of the printed text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Clifton Tragedy" (subject: The Clifton Wreck) and references and notes there
NOTES [110 words]: The notes in Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors note acidly that author Pat Bonner was by all accounts "a better fiddler than he was a poet." Certainly this song is much longer than it should be. It is also unusually explicit in its Catholic imagery -- a trait it shares with "The Clifton Tragedy." It would appear that the Clifton's crew was heavily Catholic.
MidwestFolklore, Ivan H. Watson, "Folk Singing on Beaver Island," Volume 2, Number 4 (Winter 1952), p. 247, contains a reference to "The Clifton's Crew," and p. 49 says that Pat Bonnar composed the song, but it's not really evident which of the songs on the topic it means. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: WGM181

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