John Holland - Kiltarten Green (Kitardine/Katahdin)

Kiltarten Green or perhaps Kitardine Green (or even Katahdin Green?)

I'd resist the urge to imagine this song as referring to Kiltartan (in Ireland), and rather suggest that it is likely a song that originally referred to localities in Maine (with the title likely being derived from Katahdin in Maine).

Lyrics as transcribed from this recording:

Oh one night as I lay musing on my silent bed in home, some rambling thoughts came in my mind, this wide world for to roam so I thought it fit to take a trip, this wide world to explore.

So, I took my true love by the hand, and I held her firm and fast. saying The train it leaves tomorrow, love, we must part at last. And we gently glide along we ll make the taverns roar, here s the health to old Kitardine, byes, and the gal that I adore.

Oh when I arrived in Saddlecoe, it was there I looked around, the boss he said You are too small, the lumber to chop down he said that I might go and cook that I was neat and clean, that was the very time, brave byes, I thought[?] on Kitardine green.

oh but Saddlecoe[?] is a pretty place and pretty girls are there, you d think they were some nightingales when they go out to sing, where the little lambs do sport and play way down on the Leebrun s [?] isle where the Linsel[?] brooks and rivers through the mountains gently glide.

now the dreary winter is over and the men are all going out, the boss he said you men must stay that are hired for the route, I will ay you all your wages byes as plain as plain can be and when the lumber s in the boom, oh you routers may go free.

Ah but now I m tired and weary, oh I will lay down my pen, but I hope the boss s lumber crew they will get safe to town, as they gently glide along they ll make the taverns roar, here s the health to old Kitardine byes, and the gal I do adore.

This song is sung a cappella. During the last words of the song ( and the girl I do adore ), which are spoken rather than sung, the singer stomps his foot rapidly (this is Holland s trademark after-song stepdancing).

After the first line of the second stanza the singer coughs several times and then sings the line again.

In this recording the order of two stanzas (3 and 4) are reversed when compared to the published version in Folksongs from Prince Edward Island. Also there are several notable variations throughout such as: the singer renaming the town Saddlecoe (rather than Sancook as it appears in the published version); the lines way down on the Leebrun s isle (stanza 4) and where the Linsell brooks and rivers through the mountains gently glide (stanza 4) appear in the published version as "down by their mother's side" and "and the salmon, trout and pickerel in the streams do gently glide", respectively. Though "Leebrun" and "Linsell" may be imperfect transcription, perhaps this singer has inserted specific place names into the song. Also notable is that in the published version the text reads (stanza 5) and when the lumber is in Old Town whereas this singer replaces the place name, singing when the lumber s in the boom. Finally, in the published version the text (stanza 6) identifies both Old Town and Bangor ( will arrive safe in Old Town and for when we get to Bangor ) whereas this singer does not use any place names.

This song seems to have the same tune as another song, Two Budding Lumberjacks, that appears elsewhere in the Manny collection as (052-04), (107-06), (125-04) where it is sung both times by Albert Peters. Because a note in Manny s book tells us that Albert and his brothers Ben and Frank wrote the song (and that they even borrowed a line from Kitardine Green, or Kiltarten Green , for use in their song) it is likely that the tune was first used for Kitardine Green and that the Peters boys also borrowed the tune as well.

1959

This song appears in Randall and Dorothy Dibblee eds. Folksongs from Prince Edward Island Williams &amp; Crue Ltd. Summerside, P.E.I. as simply Kitardine on pg. 42.

It has been recorded by Brian Miller on his Minnesota Lumberjack Songs album.

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