Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info
MMD > Archives > June 1997 > 1997.06.08 > 03Prev  Next


Yukon Music Box
By Robbie Rhodes

In Digest 970606 Dan McGrath recalled "The Shooting of Dan McGrew," by
Robert W. Service:

>  "A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute Saloon.
>  The kid that handles the MUSIC BOX was hitting a jag time tune. ..."

When I was all of 15 years old I entertained in a cowboy saloon in
Mammoth Lakes, Calif. (before skiing was invented!).  Late one night a
well-read cowboy regaled us with a _very_ vulgar parody of "Dangerous Dan
McGrew", which began,

  "A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in one of them Yukon halls,
   The kid that handled the music box was stealthily ... "
   [ Vulgar!  Hee! hee! ]

Years later I heard similar hilarious vulgar versions of other classic
poems by Robert W. Service, and I thought, "Maybe the vulgar versions
actually were composed first, to entertain in the bars of the gold camps,
and years later were modified for publication and enjoyment in 'polite
company.'"  The book of his poems, "The Spell of the Yukon and Other
Verses," was published in 1916 by Barse & Co., New York.

Service hung about the gold camps of the Yukon Gold Rush, which was
circa 1900 as I recall.  It's possible that a player piano _did_ find
it's way to the gold country, by sea from Seattle or Vancouver, and
thence via the White Pass & Yukon Railway from Skagway, Alaska, into the
Yukon Territory.

Historians have pointed out that pianos shipped to frontier bars often
remained in the shipping crate for protection from the unruly patrons --
perhaps that's another use of the term "Music Box."

Robbie Rhodes


(Message sent Sun 8 Jun 1997, 23:07:07 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Box, Music, Yukon

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page