Digital Tradition Mirror

The Lumberman's Alphabet

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Lumberman's Alphabet

A is for axes that you may all know;
And B is for boys that make them all go;
C is for choppers so early begun
And D is for danger we often stand in.

CHORUS :

'Tis merry, 'tis merry, 'tis merry are we
No mortal on earth, so happy as we.
A derry, Lo derry, Ring derry dum.
Give us shantymen's grog and there'll nothing go wrong.

E is the echo that through the woods rang:
F is the foreman, head one of our gang;
G is the grindstone so merrily goes round
And H js the handle, so smoothly 'tis worn.

I is the Iron that mark-ed the pine;
J is the Jov-al that's never behind;
K is the keen edge our axes we keep
And L is the lice that over us creep.

M is the moss we patch-ed the cracks
And N is the needle we patch-ed our pants;
O is the owl that hooteth at night
And P is the pine that always falls right.

Q is the quarrel we never allow;
R is the river we float our logs down
S is the sleds so stout and so strong
And T is the teams that go jog 'em along.

U is the use we put our teams to;
V is the valley we draw our logs through;
W is the woods we leave in the spring
And this is all I am going to sing.

Note: Many trades, it seems, had their own alphabets. See also
 Sailor's Alphabet
From Ballads Migrant in New England, Flanders
RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!