Irish Diaspora, Men of New Basin Canal | Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories #266

Mar 3, 2023 News, Podcasts, Pub Songs & Stories Podcast

The departure of the Irish from Ireland in the 1800s had some tragic consequences. Jamie Haeuser’s songs “Men of New Basin Canal” and “Bridget’s Prayer” dig into that. So we’re gonna dig into the songs and the album How America Saved Irish Music. Great news about my next album, Come Adventure With Me. Bandcamp now playlists. And learning to say no.

This is Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories #266.

0:30 – Marc Gunn “Old Dun Cow” from St Patrick’s Day

4:35 – WELCOME TO SCI FI PUB SONGS & STORIES

This is the audio edition of my newsletter as well as the liner notes for the songs I record so that you can enjoy my music even more! And who am I?

I am Marc Gunn. I’m a rhythm and folk Celtic musician living in Atlanta, Georgia. I play traditional Irish and Scottish drinking songs. But I’m also a songwriter. I write songs inspired by Celtic culture as well as songs inspired by pop culture, things like Lord of the Rings, Firefly, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and more. That’s the reason one brewery I play called my music Sci F’Irish music. It’s also why this is Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories.

WHAT’S NEW

6:08 – UPCOMING SHOWS

9:34 – Lauren Oxford “What Rings True” from Lauren Oxford

14:40 – IF YOU’RE WAITING TO COME ADVENTURE WITH ME…

Then you don’t have too much longer to wait. Well, assuming you were part of the Kickstarter.

My engineer, Mitchell, sent me three songs last week. I listened to each of them while I was getting my car emissions tested. We spent the rest of the morning emailing and forth with mixes and edits. I love the result, and those are the final tracks for the album.

I should have a track listing soon. I want to make sure we nail down the last of those songs. But I greenlighted Mitchell to start creating a song order so I could start listening.

The other thing I finally did was come up with a couple Album Pin designs thanks to Miranda. I ran a poll on Patreon between two different designs: one a dragon and one a compass. It was a tight poll. They both are pretty fantastic.

But as they say in Highlander: there can be only one!

That’s actually not at all true. I can do more. But for the Kickstarter, I went with the Compass design that reads: “Never Stop Adventuring”.

I’ll send that to the printers as soon as I have a track listing.

Finally, I’m still on target for sending out the digital album to everyone on Kickstarter on March 17. Here’s hoping!

21:10 – Marc Gunn “Whiskey in the Jar feat. Andrew McKee, The Irish Bard” from St Patrick’s Day

24:26 – DOWNLOAD MY FREE EP

You can download all of my songs in this show. Just send me an email.  pubsong@celtfather

You will get an auto responder with a link to download this month’s album. You can also subscribe to the podcast if you’re not already subscribed. It’s quick and easy.

While you’re emailing me to get your free EP, let me know what you’re doing while listening to this episode.

25:00 – STORY OF MEN OF NEW BASIN CANAL

I was living in New Orleans in 2009 when I got a phone call from Jamie Haeuser. She was driving back from an Irish session in NOLA to her home in Robert, Louisiana across the causeway. She told me she had written lyrics for two songs. She asked if I’d set them to music.

Of course, without hesitation, I said, “Yes! What are they about?”

She then told me how the Causeway she was driving across had once been the New Basin Canal. It was a shipping canal from Lake Pontchartrain through swamp to booming uptown part of New Orleans.

Work on the canal began in 1832. Almost immediately, they ran to problems. Yellow fever ravaged the workers. It was deemed too costly to use slaves to build the canal. So instead, the Irish immigrants were hired to build it.

Many people don’t realize that New Orleans was one of the top immigration points for the Irish behind New York and Boston.

As a result, it’s estimated that between 500-30,000 Irishmen died digging the New Basin Canal. No one knows for sure the exact number. Wikipedia suggests 8000 might be a more accurate number. But holy crap! But even a popular number of 8000 people dying to dig this canal is insane?

So Jamie decided to write a song called “Men of New Basin Canal” to share their story.

26:43 – Marc Gunn & Jamie Haeuser “Men of New Basin Canal” from How America Saved Irish Music

Here, we came to find a bit of land
Land our fathers never had
No land we found but only death
From fever, the yellow jack

The yellow jack, one day you’re up
The next you’re in the grave
A grave they call New Basin Canal
For us six miles of pain

* Heave ho, boyo, it’s dig and death
Heave ho, God help us all

O‘Hanlan was the first to fall
Then down went Mike O’Shea
The boss called up and down the line
For men to bear away

The men who fell, hundreds a day
Shook like a Mayo gale
Too few there were to dig the trench
Too few to bear away.

Why is it Erin’s sons are called
When slaves they cannot spare
When earth and water must be moved
To make the rich man’s share

From lake to river to move the goods
That make the rich men more
Down we fall time and again
And none to hear our prayer

But we will rise, somehow, sometime
To rule those who rule us
We’ll fight to o’ercome the loss
Of thousands of Ireland’s best

We will be known as men who died
Will live to make our mark
The men of New Basin Canal
Known as New Orleans own

It’s a powerful story. It had me mesmerized imagining the almost shanty style of work to dig the canal. So when I came up with the melody and chorus, that’s the rhythm that I picked. Especially with her “Heave ho, boy”. It just screamed sea shanty.

Later, Jamie and I recorded the song for our CD, How America Saved Irish Music. The one little thing I had to add to it was a crash symbol.

You see, I have long thought this was a great sing and interact along. In particular, I always imagined clapping like this.

Heave ho, boyo, it’s dig and death [clap, clap]
Heave ho, God help us all

It gives it a great energy. But for the recording, I didn’t want clapping. I wanted that crash symbol much like the one used in the song “Zombie” by The Cranberries.

Jamie didn’t stop at one song though. She also wrote “Bridget’s Prayer.” It’s basically the same story but it’s from the perspective of women who watched their men die digging the canal. The ones buried them.

It’s another great song.

Oh, Michael, please don’t go today
You’re shakin’ like a leaf
We will make do, o stor, maron
We will make do somehow

I’ve washing in, I can do more
Just don’t go back, I pray
It’s death my darlin’ one, I know
It’s death in that new canal

I pray, in holy Bridget’s name
I pray, God help us all

My babies need their father here
My babies need you so
Please don’t go back, I know that you
Will fall if go you do

I can find work, I’ll sew and wash
‘Till bloody my fingers are
Just don’t go back, oh, stor maron
It’s death in that new canal

Oh, Michael love, I cannot live
Without you, dearest heart
Find other work, I care not what
Find anything but that

I cannot stand to see you fall
Like our friends before have done
Too many widows made too young
It’s death in that new canal

A big thanks to TJ Barrens, our sound engineer, Doctor Sick, who provided fiddle and mandolin, and Katie Haeuser who shared some amazing background vocals for the album.

29:52 – INTERVIEW WITH JAMIE HAEUSER

49:27 – Marc Gunn & Jamie Haeuser “Bridget’s Prayer” from How America Saved Irish Music

51:31 – JOIN THE CLUB

The show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast or my music, please join the Club. Every week, you get bonus podcasts, downloadable songs, printed sheet music, blogs, or stories from the road. Plus, you get weekly access to my Coffee with The Celtfather video concerts. Sign up for as little as $5 per month and save 15% with an annual membership.
Thanks to my newest Gunn Runners on Patreon: Alice M, Karla Ad, Triskele, Ayden B

52:25 – SAYING NO, EVEN IF IT’S INCLUDED

Inara asked me to fill her juice bottle up to a certain line. No higher!

I asked her why. She said it was because if she drinks more than that, then she’ll get filled up and not be hungry for breakfast.

I was blown away that at age 8, she already knows her limits. I might’ve learned that by 48…

She also knew that it was too tempting if I gave her more than her limit. She might end up drinking it.

Seth Godin wrote a blog recently about saying no, even if it’s included. He concludes that “No might be better than free.”

I’ve come to appreciate saying, “No,” a little bit more recently. I do it on those rare times I go eat fast food. “Do you want the meal?”. No. Not really. Thanks.

But I’m also thinking of it in terms of environmentalism. The Album Pin printer I use, GS-JJ, automatically put each album pin in plastic when it is shipped. I really don’t want those little pieces of plastic that encase each pin. It just occurred to me today, I can say, no. I can ask them to not put them in there.

I bring canvas tote bags to the grocery store so I can bag the groceries myself and not take another plastic bag home with me.

When I choose fruit and vegetables, I pick the ones that aren’t in plastic bags. I get a little grossed out by putting them on the scanner. But then I wash them when I get home.

I don’t need more stuff in my life. If I buy it, it needs a reason to stick around. Sometimes that can be for pure enjoyment. Sometimes it’s like you want to archive something you love, like many of you do with CDs or USBs. But most of the time it’s gotta be something practical.

So I do my best to say no. Obviously, I'm. not perfect. I don't do all of these things every time. But as long as I'm learning to say no to excess more than I say yes, I'll call that a win!

What about you? What do you say “no” to?

1:00:57 – Brobdingnagian Bards “The Orange and The Green” from Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales

We talk about AI on the next Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast.

1:03:22 – BANDCAMP APP NOW HAS PLAYLISTS

One of the big reasons I started selling my music through Bandcamp was because of their app. Yes. You can download music as MP3s or whatever lossless format you prefer, but you can also stream the music through their app.

But up until now, I could only listen to one album at a time from one artist at a time. No longer! You can now create your own playlists with music that you own.

So if you’ve been buying my music on Bandcamp these past few years, head on over. Make your own playlist.

Buy some merch while you’re there. The full store opens up on Wednesday. And this Friday, March 3 is Bandcamp Friday, Bandcamp waives all of their fees. So I earn a little bit more from each purchase.

It’s prolly a good time to pick up some USBs to archive your music! Or get a ticket to my St Patrick’s Day concert.

If you love this episode, then take a screenshot on your phone. Post it on social media. And tag @celtfather. Tell me what you like about this episode and what you’d like to hear in the future.

1:06:02 – Marc Gunn “Tae the Begging” from St Patrick’s Day

1:10:20 – CREDITS

Thanks for listening to Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories. The show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. Every week, you’ll get a new podcast or song or video or video concert. You’ll also save 25% off all my merch in my store. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs.

You can subscribe and listen to the show wherever you find podcasts. Sign up to my mailing list to read the show notes for this episode and find out where I’m performing.

And of course, please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Have fun and sing along at www.pubsong.com!

#pubstories #stpatricksday #irishdisaspora

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