kate_nepveu: "Erie Canal" poll

Kate (

kate_nepveu) wrote,
@ 2006-06-22 19:44:00

Entry tags:

music, poll

"Erie Canal" poll

Prompted by yesterday's post about Springsteen, I present a poll (behind the cut, to avoid cluttering friends' pages).

Unfortunately you can't format polls, so this isn't as clear as I'd like: but the idea is that each starred item is the start of a sentence and the items below that complete the sentence. Just check everything that applies, and then each person's answer will be coherent when I click through to "view answers." In theory.

Poll #754092
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

"Erie Canal"?

View Answers

* 1) I don't know a song called "Erie Canal" (go to 3)
13 (25.5%)

* 2) I know a song called "Erie Canal"
36 (70.6%)

which is about a guy and his mule named Sal
35 (68.6%)

which is about the gin running out
7 (13.7%)

* 2a) I learned it in school in
19 (37.3%)

NY
8 (15.7%)

ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, or RI
1 (2.0%)

PA or NJ
1 (2.0%)

MD, DE, DC, WV, or VA
2 (3.9%)

KY, TN, NC, SC, MS, AL, GA, or FL
1 (2.0%)

WI, MI, IL, IN, or OH
3 (5.9%)

ND, SD, MN, NE, IA, KS, or MO
1 (2.0%)

OK, AR, TX, or LA
1 (2.0%)

MT, ID, WY, or CO
0 (0.0%)

NV, UT, AZ, or MN
2 (3.9%)

WA, OR, or CA
3 (5.9%)

AL or HI
0 (0.0%)

Canada
0 (0.0%)

Mexico
0 (0.0%)

someplace outside North America
1 (2.0%)

* 2b) I learned it from a performance or recording
17 (33.3%)

in addition to learning it at school
6 (11.8%)

instead of learning it at school (go to 3)
12 (23.5%)

under circumstances I will relate in a comment
2 (3.9%)

* 3) I didn't learn a song called "Erie Canal" in school, and I went to school in
17 (33.3%)

NY
4 (7.8%)

ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, or RI
2 (3.9%)

PA or NJ
5 (9.8%)

MD, DE, DC, WV, or VA
3 (5.9%)

KY, TN, NC, SC, MS, AL, GA, or FL
5 (9.8%)

WI, MI, IL, IN, or OH
3 (5.9%)

ND, SD, MN, NE, IA, KS, or MO
1 (2.0%)

OK, AR, TX, or LA
2 (3.9%)

MT, ID, WY, or CO
1 (2.0%)

NV, UT, AZ, or MN
0 (0.0%)

WA, OR, or CA
4 (7.8%)

AL or HI
0 (0.0%)

Canada
1 (2.0%)

Mexico
0 (0.0%)

someplace outside North America
4 (7.8%)

Poll #754093
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Ticky box?

View Answers

Ticky!
14 (82.4%)

You need a trademark poll item like "Sanzo"
5 (29.4%)

and I'll suggest one in comments!
3 (17.6%)

(I should've posted this before work this morning, but I didn't have time to look up all the states (no, I don't have them memorized by region).)

(Post a new comment)

	readinggeek451 2006-06-22 11:52 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know that I know a song named Erie Canal. I wouldn't have thought so, but the mule named Sal is ringing a few very faint bells. Anyway, I just skipped to #3, because I definitely didn't learn it in school. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 12:18 am UTC (link)
	There's a sound clip here: http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/eriecanal.htm or on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EU1PNC My original thesis was that this was a very New York thing, but some comments yesterday cast doubt on that. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mmcirvin 2006-06-23 01:33 am UTC (link)
	It was included in an elementary-school textbook of folk and popular songs that we used in music class. That may have been one of the main vectors carrying it outside New York. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 02:16 am UTC (link)
	Ah, thanks. Seriously, I don't remember doing any songs in music class (well, we must've done concerts?). And I'm not in touch with anyone from the same elementary school any more to check my memory. Perhaps my parents will recall. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	readinggeek451 2006-06-23 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	Nope. Definitely not familiar. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	countrycousin 2006-06-22 11:59 pm UTC (link)
	note - I learned it while in school, but not, IIRC (it was a while ago) in class. In was in the College Outing Club songbook IIRC - which I still have, although it has had restorative surgery on various occasions. (No, I never was a member of the Outing Club. It was a popular songbook.) (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 12:19 am UTC (link)
	Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking music class, but outside works too--folk process and all that. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rachelmanija 2006-06-22 11:59 pm UTC (link)
	I know both Erie Canal songs, and I learned them from my father. I think he learned them from a Weavers' record, or maybe from Woody Guthrie. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 12:20 am UTC (link)
	I do wish LJ would let you style polls--you checked that you _didn't_ know the songs, probably because the options are all so close together. It kind of surprises me that anyone outside of NY cares about it, since it's such a NY thing, but it is a good tune. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	montoya 2006-06-23 12:38 am UTC (link)
	Words to songs have no intrinsic meaning, it's all about catchy tunes. I mean, it's not like kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree is a local thing for Americans; and most people are unlikely to go marching to Praetoria, but... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 12:40 am UTC (link)
	True. And it is a catchy tune. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rachelmanija 2006-06-23 02:08 am UTC (link)
	Oops. I would certainly call the album folk, by the way; any song where the author is listed as "traditional" is pretty much a folk song by definition. (Reply to this)(Parent)

od_mind
2006-06-23 02:08 pm UTC (link)

It kind of surprises me that anyone outside of NY cares about it, since it's such a NY thing

I'm not sure that's how folk songs work. I must know dozens of them that are about someplace that isn't "where I grew up"[1], but that seems to be part of the charm.

I had a Canadian housemate for a while in grad school, and he came home one day to hear me listening to a recording of Clam Chowder singing "Farewell, Nova Scotia". It completely blew him away that an American would ever choose to listen to a Canadian folks song about Canada. Never mind that the same album had a song in Russian, a song about Wallops Island, Maryland, a song about Danish women waiting for their men to come home from the sea, etc.

DMT

[1] ...and one soon-to-be-traditional song that is about where I grew up: Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans". That train ran between the town where I lived and the town where my grandparents lived, and I rode it a couple of times as a child.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

jimtbari
2006-06-24 02:57 am UTC (link)

I do wish LJ would let you style polls--you checked that you _didn't_ know the songs, probably because the options are all so close together.
You could use ticky boxes as section separators. :-)

As to the song, I first heard it on a barbershop recording. The quartet was from St. Louis, and they sang the same arrangement as another quartet (from Louisville) had done earlier.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	rivka 2006-06-26 02:37 am UTC (link)
	I learned the "gin" one from my father's Weavers' record. The other one I learned in school. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	montoya 2006-06-23 12:37 am UTC (link)
	I can't really answer your poll, because the only part of the song I know is "tumty tumty tumty tal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal", and I have no idea where I got that from. I will note, however, that when I saw the Erie Canal in person, I was deeply, deeply unimpressed. It's a ditch! (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 12:38 am UTC (link)
	Possibly yesterday's post? It's amazing what an ear-worm that is. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	montoya 2006-06-23 12:39 am UTC (link)
	Oh no, nothing from yesterday. It's much, much older than that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even noticed seeing the Erie Canal. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	montoya 2006-06-23 12:40 am UTC (link)
	Also, is it the same tune as some song about coal? Because if I try to think about more lyrics, I keep coming up with coal-related imagery. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 12:42 am UTC (link)
	I have no idea, but there is a reference to coal: http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/eriecanal.htm (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	stinaleigh 2006-06-23 01:14 am UTC (link)
	The 'Sal' thing sounded familiar. However, upon reading these lyrics, I realized that the song I was thinking of was actually '16 Tons', which I belive is actually about the Erie Canal as well. This would be why I checked the box that said Erie Canal wasn't the title. I could have just been totally confused. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mmcirvin 2006-06-23 01:34 am UTC (link)
	The tunes are very similar. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	spacecrab 2006-06-23 12:57 am UTC (link)
	The song took on a whole new meaning for me in the psychedelic '60s: "You'll always know your neighbor You'll always know your pal, if you've ever navigated on the E[e]rie Canal!" (Reply to this)

	redbird 2006-06-23 02:00 am UTC (link)
	I know both songs named "Erie Canal," and have no idea where I learned them. Probably one from Pete Seeger, maybe the other from my parents or school or the radio. (Reply to this)

	ckd 2006-06-23 02:23 am UTC (link)
	I originally said I didn't know the song, and then I realized that it's in my iTunes library and I last heard it three days ago. My brain's not working so well this week. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 02:44 am UTC (link)
	Right, will take it into account in any summing-up. (Note to backbrain: consider a "music" icon.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ckd 2006-06-23 04:37 am UTC (link)
	I went back and re-answered the poll, since LJ will let you change your answers. So no need to adjust the aggregate numbers. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kate_nepveu 2006-06-23 10:54 am UTC (link)
	Ah--I didn't realize it would let you change! Good to know. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	adrian_turtle 2006-06-23 02:35 am UTC (link)
	I'm from Michigan. I think I knew the "Erie Canal" song (the one with the mule) before I started school. I think of it as being about loyalty and teamwork, and thus universally applicable. It was also in school music classes, being so rhythmically strong. (Reply to this)

	mikeda 2006-06-24 01:36 pm UTC (link)
	I vaguely recall first seeing the song in school. Almost had to be in California, because I literally don't remember anything that happened in school in New Mexico. It does have catchy lyrics. (Reply to this)

	cannedpheasant 2007-07-13 06:32 am UTC (link)
	i learned the gin song at the 'unwind inn' in rome, ny. it ws sung by robin schade, the ny state troubadour who played the inn weekly. i musta been 8. we returned weekly for sunday lunch & robin schade. he also played at my school. where i learned the low bridge song. also heard sung at the erie canal village in rome. (Reply to this)

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