Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
When Flrst I Went to Caledonla

When Flrst I Went to Caledonla

When Flrst I Went to Caledonla

When First I went to Caledonia
I got loading at Number Three
And I got boarding at Donald Norman's
He had a daughter could make good tea

And it was me and my brother Charlie
The biggest shavers you e'er did see
We're spearing eels in the month of April
And starving slaves on Scataree

I went to Norman's for a pair of brochan
A pound of soap and a cake of tea
But Norman said that he would not give them
Till fish got plenty on Scataree

So I went over to their big harbour
Just on purpose for to see the spray
I spied a maiden from Boulardrie over
She seemed to me Iike the Oueen of May

Now if I had pen from Pennsylvania
And if I had paper of purest wllite
And if I had ink of the rosy morning
A true love note unto you I'd write

But I wish I was on the deepest ocean
As far from land as once I could be
A sailing over the deepest ocean
Where woman's love would not trouble me

l'd lay my head to a cask of brandy
And it's a dandy I do declare
For when I'm drinking I'm seldom thinking
How I can gain that young lady fair

When first I went to Caledonia
I got loading at Number Three
And I got boarding at Donald Norman's
He had a daughter could make good tea

From Tony Cuffe When First I Went to Caledonia
Iona Records 1988

A song from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia with a
rather misleading title. "Caledonia" in this case, refers
not to Scotland. but to the Caledonia Coal Mines in
Glace Bay, and "Number Three" is one of the pits.
Scataree is a small island just off the coast of Cape
Breton, now uninhabited except for a lighthouse
keeper and Boulardrie is one of the more fertile
farming areas
 From the book "Songs and Stories of Deep Cove.
Cape Breton"  by Amby Thomas. AMMcD

AMMcD
oct97