L SONGS - If a query has come in and there’s no answer as yet, that song title will appear in red
LAC (LAKE) ST. CLAIRE (see additional reference material, 2007)
LAY THAT PISTOL DOWN BABE (AKA “PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMA”)
LILAC TREE (see also TYING APPLES ON A LILAC TREE on “T” page)
LILAC TREES ARE BLOOMING (see PLAY IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD on “P”page)
LITTLE BOXES
LITTLE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM
LITTLE PIG JOE
LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE
LITTLE REDWING (PRETTY REDWING)
LOVIN’ YOU IS MAKING ME BANANAS
LAC (LAKE) ST. CLAIRE, song about THE WRECK OF THE 'JULIE PLANTE' A LEGEND OF LAC ST. PIERRE
From Diane B: Browsed your website, and you seem like the best bet to identify this song! I've searched google quite a bit but my info is too limited I guess.
My grandfather used to sing it in the early 1900s. He was 4th generation in the Detroit area, and French. I only know a few phrases: "the wind he blow like a hurricane, the sou' wind she blow too" and the song ended with "you can't be drowned on the Lac St. Claire, so long's you stay ashore"
Sounds like you know something of this area--Lake Saint Clair is local to the Michigan/Ontario area, so it must be a local song I believe I heard it years ago on some radio program.
Any ideas?
Thanks for your time. Diane B.
Diane would really like to know more about this song.
A.: Cindy sent in all the lyrics with this note: I don't know about it being turned into a song, but it is originally a poem by William Henry Drummond called "The Wreck of the Julie Plante". The lake in question is Lac St. Pierre.
Ed. Note And here’s what I found. I must confess that your quest has been bugging me, and a search of some of the phrases turned up nothing. But, I finally found a website that you ought to look at
<http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/garvin/poets/drummond.html>
It contains much information about a 19th C. Canadian doctor and poet named William Henry Drummond (1854-1907). I think you'll find that the long poem quoted there titled The Wreck of the 'Julie Plante,' A Legend of Lac St. Pierre is what you've been looking for. "Pierre" and "Claire" being good rhymes perhaps your grandfather just swapped one for the other, or as a child you did the same. And here it is:]
THE WRECK OF THE 'JULIE PLANTE' : A LEGEND OF LAC ST. PIERRE
ON wan dark night on Lac St. Pierre,
De win' she blow, blow, blow,
An' de crew of de wood scow "Julie Plante"
Got scar't an' run below–
For de win' she blow lak hurricane,
Bimeby she blow some more,