Bob Dylan And The Maritimers (Part II)
By Larry Fyffe
Being from Cornhill, New Brunswick, not that far from the rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it’s easily seen that singer/songwriter/musician Bob Dylan is lifted aloft up to where the eagles fly by the winged Apollonian gods of the Maritimes.
He apparently accumulates lines drawn from Maitimers songsters.
From Gordon Vale, New Brunswick ~ John Calhoun:
In eighteen hundred and eighty When the flowers were a brilliant hue I sailed away from my native isle My fortune to pursue (Ballad Of Peter Amberley)
The lyrics of the Maritime song drawn upon in the song beneath:
Farewell to the old north woods Of which I used to roam (Bob Dylan: The Ballad Of Donald White)
From Hatfield Point, New Brunswick ~ Bob Nolan:
But with the dawn I'll wake up and yawn (Cool Water)
Echoed in the lines below:
I got up early So I could greet the goddess of the dawn (Bob Dylan: I Crossed the Rubicon)
From Brooklyn, Nova Scotia ~ Hank Snow: Down at the pawnshop, down at the pawnshop They got my watch and everything (Down At The Pawnshop)
Echoed again below:
I pawned my watch, paid my debts And I crossed the Rubicon (Bob Dylan: I Crossed The Rubicon)
From Hilford, Nova Scotia ~ Wilf Carter: It seems I can still see the old covered wagon And the first day I ever met you (The Red River Valley Blues)
And on it goes:
I painted my wagon, abandoned all hope And I crossed the Rubicon (Bob Dylan: I Crossed The Rubicon)
Or could be that Bob Dylan is simply a transfigured Maritimer.