The Pinery Boy
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American
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Oh, a raftsman's life is a wearisome one,
It causes many fair maids to weep and mourn.
It causes them to weep and mourn
For the loss of a true love that never can return,
"O father, O father, build me a boat,
That down the Wisconsin I may float,
And every raft that I pass by
There I will inquire for my sweet Pinery Boy."
As she was rowing down the stream
She saw three rafts all in a string.
She hailed the pilot as they drew nigh,
And there she did inquire for her sweet Pinery Boy.
"O pilot, O pilot, tell me true,
Is my sweet Willie among your crew?
Oh, tell me quick and give me joy,
For none other will I have but my sweet Pinery Boy."
"Oh, auburn was the color of his hair,
His eyes were blue and his cheeks were fair.
His lips were of a ruby fine;
Ten thousand times they've met with mine."
"O honored lady, he is not here.
He's drownded in the dells I fear.
'Twas at Lone Rock as we passed by,
Oh, there is where we left your sweet Pinery Boy."
She wrung her hands and tore her hair,
Just like a lady in great despair,
She rowed her boat against Lone Rock
You'd a-thought this fair lady's heart was broke.
"Dig me a grave both long and deep,
Place a marble slab at my head and feet;
And on my breast a turtle dove
To let the world know that I died for love.
And at my feet a spreading oak
To let the world know that my heart was broke".*
*repeat the last four measures of the melody for the last two lines
"The Pinery Boy", also known as "The Sailor Boy" or "A Soldier's Life" is a ballad from Wisconsin.<br> The "The Sailor Boy" or "A Soldier's Life" originals are known in Great Britain.<br> "Deep Blue Sea" seems to be another version that has degenerated within oral tradition.<br> It was collected by Franz Rickaby who was a Professor of English at the University of<br> North Dakota.<br> Rickaby also collected<br> "The Red Iron Ore" and<br> "A Shantyman's Life".<br> "The Pinery Boy" versions tend to mention Lone Rock and/or the Wisconsin Dells as the site of<br> this tragedy, but the Wisconsin, River, according to Gard/Sorden, p. 95, was a very dangerous<br> stream for raftsmen for much of its length: "[M]any of these danger spots, still bearing the<br> names given them by the raftsmen, are points of interest along the Wisconsin River. Among these<br> names are Sliding Rock, whose sloping sides make it impossible to gain any foothold; Notched Rock;<br> the Devil's Elbow, a right-angle turn making passage very difficult; and the Narrows, where the<br> River is said to be turned on its side, since its width is only fifty-two feet, and its depth is<br> one hundred and fifty feet".<br> The whole Dells region must have been difficult, since the river goes through a series of rather<br> sharp bends, and the riverbanks and the bed are rough.<br> The small town of Lone Rock is not properly part of the Dells; it is several dozen miles<br> downstream, in a marshy, heavily wooded area. But it is on the Wisconsin River (and it has a<br> Lone Rock Cemetery, according to Google Maps, so perhaps our hero was buried there). Ironically,<br> the cemetery (off U. S. Highway 14) seems to be one of the few spots in the area which largely<br> lacks trees. Lone Rock the town, not surprisingly, is named for a rock named Lone Rock, a<br> sandstone formation on the north bank of the Wisconsin that raftsmen used for navigation -- this<br> far below the Dells, the Wisconsin is fairly straight. but there is a spot near the rock called<br> Devil's Bend, and the current is swift. So Lone Rock was important to let the raftsmen know there<br> were near a tricky place. The Rock is no longer really visible, according to an online history of<br> the area (http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-LoneRock). Much of the rock was taken and used for construction.<br> Lone Rock the town came into being in 1856. The name "Lone Rock" for the sandstone pillar is<br> older, but it seems unlikely that they would have buried the Pinery Boy there had the town not<br> existed.<br> The final verses of the ballad borrows from the<br> "Butcher's Boy"<br> family of ballads.<br> The song was printed in Rickaby's Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy (1926),<br> Belden's Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folklore Society (1940),<br> Randolph's Ozark Folk Songs (1946),<br> Sharp's English Folk Songs in the Southern Appalachians (1932),<br> Lomax's The Folk Songs of North America (1960),<br> Laws' Native American Balladry: A descriptive study and bibliographical syllabus (1964) and<br> Lloyd and Rivera's Folk Songs of the Americas (1965).<br> It was recorded by Sam Eskin on Sea Shanties and Loggers' Songs (1951).<br>
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