Come all you brave old shanty boys

voiceand Jim Hays For Mary C. Parler Transcribed by Frances Majors Collected by Johnny Page Sung by Mrs. Lola Stanley Fayetteville, Arkansas December 30, 1958 Reel 265, Item 4 Brave Old Shanty Boys (The Jam on Gerry's Rock) Come all you brave old shanty boys And listen while I relate. It was last Sunday's morning, As you will presently hear, The logs were piled in mountains high. We could not keep them clear. The boss said, Turn out, brave boys, Without a voice of fear; We'll break the jam on Gerry's Rock, To Shagmund Town we'll steer. While parties they were willing, While others they were not, To break the jam on Sunday They didn't think they ought. But six of these brave old Canadian boys They volunteered to go And break the jam on Gerry's Rock With the foreman, young Monroe. When they scarce had rolled a log or two, They heard his clear voice say, Be out upon your guard, my boys, The mass they may give way. These words were scarcely spoken When the mass let go and went, And carried off six of these brave youths Down to the watery grave. While six of the bleeding bodies A-floating down they go, While crushed and bleeding near the bank Lay that of Jack Monroe. They pulled him out from his watery grave, Brushed back his raven hair, When one fair form among them Whose cries rang in the air; When one fair form among them, A girl from Shagmund's Town, Whose mourns and cries they filled the skies That her true love had drowned.Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation