The Jam On Gary's Rock (Leach) video, score, MIDI

See also: The Jam On Jerry's Rock (Ryan's Fancy)

#1826: YouTube video by Banjerholler ©2012 ~ Used with permission ~   alt:

Come all of you young shanty boys,
come listen to my song,
Hear my sad lamentation,
it won't delay you long;
It's all about six shanty boys,
so proud and so brave,
'Twas in a jam on Gary's Rock
where they met a watery grave.

It was on a Sunday morning,
as you will quickly hear,
Our logs were piled up mountains high,
we could not keep them clear;
Our foreman said, "Turn out brave boys,
with hearts so brave and bold,
We'll break the jam on Gary's Rock
To Ellingtown we'll steer."

Some of them were willing,
and some of them were not,
To work on jams on Sunday,
they did not think they ought;
Till six of our Canadian boys
did volunteer to go,
For to break the jam on Gary's Rock
with their foreman, young Munroe.

They did not roll up many logs
when they heard his young voice say,
"I'll warn you boys be on your guard,
this jam will soon give way."
These words were scarcely spoken
when the jam did break and go
It carried away those six brave boys
with their foreman, young Munroe.

The rest of those bold shanty boys,
the sad news they did hear,
In search of their brave comrades,
to the river they did steer;
Among their mangled bodies,
a-floating down did go,
'Twas dead and bleeding on the bank
their foreman, young Munroe.

They took him from his watery grave,
brushed back his curly hair,
There was one fair girl among them
whose sad cries filled the air;
There was one fair girl among them
who came from Signal town,
Whose moans and sighs would fill the skies,
her true love had gone down.

Fair Clara being a noble girl,
the river man's true friend,
Who with her widowed mother dear,
lived near the river's bend;
The wages of her own true love,
the boys to her did pay,
While the shanty boys made up for her
a generous purse next day.

We buried him in silence,
'twas on the first of May,
In a grave whereby the riverside,
there grew an 'emlock grey;
Engraved upon that 'emlock
that by the grave did grow,
Was the name and date and the sad fate
of our foreman, young Munroe.

Clara did not long survive,
her heart broke with her grief,
'Twas scarcely six months afterwards
death came to her relief;
And when her time at last had come
and she was called to go,
Her last request was granted,
to be laid by young Munroe.

####.... Variant of a traditional lumber camp ballad, The Jam On Gerry's Rock [Laws C1] Native American Balladry (G Malcolm Laws, 1964) ....####

Index Page GEST Songs Of Newfoundland And Labrador ~ Copyright Info ~ ~ Privacy Policy ~