BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 287, 3 December 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

SAILORMEN AND COWBOYS. SONGS OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS. Dear Boys,—Summer has come, and already the outdoor boy has commenced his campings and trampings. The backwoods paths now often echo to the lilt of a marching song, and the still bush evenings absorb the song and laughter of many camp fires. It ic strange this love of song by the outdoor folk. Whenever men get into the open it seems that they must sing. Many of the songs sung at camp fires to-day come to us from the sailors of the old wind-jammer days, when men were men who could battle with storms, and ships were ships that had to be sailed, and not driven through the ocean by steam or electricity. The sea chanteys then had their uses, for to the time of the swinging verses the sailor man would perform his various duties. The chantey sung when the men were on the capstan dragging up the anchor was of a slow measure, appropriate to the straining of the men upon their bars, whilst for other tasks nongs of brisker pace were sung. On the old clippers the chantey man was of considerable importance; it was essential that he be a man who could sing and that he have a nimble wit. It was his privilege to make parodies on anyone and everything that sailed upon his ship. Often he would say the most libellous things about officers and "tucker," but his jokes were always taken in good part and contributed much of the merriment of the sailors' lives. Many of the sea chanteys lend themselves readily to part singing, and such old favourites as "Rio Grande," sung in harmony, are wonderful to hear. Rural England has contributed much to our present-day store of folk songs and simple melody. Often tales are told in the old English folk songs, as in "Widecombe Fair," where one learns the whole regrettable story of Tom Pierce's grey mare, which expired when made to carry about half a dozen country stalwarts to the fair, and whose ghost is supposed to haunt the country side. Far from being old-fashioned, these songs are always welcome, and, like "Home, Sweet Home" and "Annie Laurie," will live for ever. Over the wireless a month or so back a young man heard a song which particularly appealed to him, and he set out to find the composer of this modern melody. To his great surprise he discovered that it was "The Lincolnshire Poacher," an old English song, that had been revived. Picture fans who go to see screen versions of some of the Western stories may be tempted to think that much of the singing on the part of the cowboys is introduced only to bring music into the entertainment, but this is not necessarily the case. As the old sailors used song when going about their work, so did the cowboy sing chants on the trail and range. Cattle, as the country reader may know, are nervous animals, and when in herd may be disturbed very easily. On the great open range lands it was an easy thing to cause a stampede. In the still hours of the night the distant cry of a coyote, the dropping of a pannikin, or the accidental explosion of a cartridge, might stprtle a herd of fidgety cattle, and before means could be taken to cope with it a stampede would result. The sound of human voices has a soothing effect upon cattle, and so the guard would sing the long night through. We out here know but little of the old trail songs of the American cowboy, but they are surely as interesting as the sea chanteys or the darkie minstrel songs. The long, ballad type cf song was preferred by the cattle guard, and some of these were simply parodies on older songs. For instance there was one chant sung by the cowboy which went to the well-known tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." The boy who has not yet taken part in an outdoor sing-song has something to look forward to, and it is a strange thing that the sorigs that will appeal to him most will not be those modern compositions that are trilled over the wireless or moaned nasally through the gramophone, but will be those that were sung long ago f 1/ " by the tillers of the soil or chanted VjT/ by the men who went down to the sea in ships.