Jolly Poker (Johnny Bowker) [Canadian Hauling Song]

A hauling song that consists only of a repeated chorus. Greenleaf and Marrow, noting its obvious similarity to the "Johny Boker" collected by Joanna Colcord and others, write in "Ballads and Sea-Songs of Newfoundland" (1933):

"Used to haul houses across the ice, boats on the land, and all kinds of heavypulling. The men line up on the rope, sing this in unison, pull on the last 'O!' and repeat until the job is done."

They got it in 1929 from Rev. J.T. Richards of Flowers' Cove.

The specified tasks call for a lot more hauling than its fore-sheet cousin. Perhaps someone would periodically line out a new verse?

The illustration is of the aftermath of the doomed 1881 Arctic voyage of the whaler Eira. Its crew of twenty-five was rescued a year later by three ships, including the Hope (later immortalized in the whaling ballad "The Eclipse" for having "none and shall get none this year of jubilee").

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Johnny
• Jonny
• Bowker
• Boker
• Booker
• Jolly
• Poker
• Heavy
• Joker
• Newfoundland
• Hauling
• Shantey
• Shanty

[hultonclint]

Good one!! Makes sense to me! The only odd thing about it, maybe, is the goofy lyrics... I would guess that would be because the (presumed) minstrel song character "Johnny Boker" has been completely forgotten and replaced by the mondegreen "jolly poker"...and it's a slippery slope from there!

Great addition.

[StatenIslandFolkie]

@hultonclint

I just think that singing the same three lines over again would get tiring almost as fast as the hauling!

It's an interesting book if you've never taken a look at it -- it's mostly ballads, but it also has a somewhat different "Haul on the Bowline" used for dragging stone to the construction site of a cathedral in St. John's.

[STUTREE]

do enjoy listening to these, where do you find the material?

[StatenIslandFolkie]

@STUTREE

I'm glad you enjoy listening to these! I get some from books, some from field recordings, some from revival recordings, and some from other singers I've met. This one came from the book I mentioned in the description.

[hultonclint]

@StatenIslandFolkie

I see what you mean! Then again, some people are content with "1, 2, 3, pull!"! I have a "theory" that chanties got less varied (within a single performance, that is) as the form was transfered from one cultural group and setting to another. The earliest chantying as we know it seems to have been completely incidental and improvised in its verses. It was the custom and aesthetic of African music, I argue. Not saying that is necessarily relevant here, tho.