Paul kicked this year’s song series off with a musical adaptation of Robert Service’s poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee.”
I had never read the poem before hearing Paul’s adaptation.
If you watch the entire video you can hear Paul talk about how he used the poem in his 6th grade class each year to teach various literary techniques.
Paul didn’t use the entire poem for the song, but you can visit this link to read the full text. He had a little trouble with his mic but I still think the adaptation turned out great.
Hope you enjoyed the first video from this year’s story series!
Tipper
Original singles released on Spotify.
Never heard of that poem or Robert Service. I think that’s the best picking i’ve heard Paul do. My introduction to Paul’s music was several years ago when i stumbled onto him & Pap singing Teardrops Falling In The Snow on youtube. Pap’s tenor on that just about make my hair stand up. There was a link to Blind Pig & that’s how i got started here.
Paul,
As I sit here enjoying your song, just to my left on a bookshelf, is my much used “Collected Poems of Robert Service”. He and Kipling are my favorite poets, and I sure appreciate you putting his words to music. This was just wonderful. Thanks so much for your efforts.
My husband is a Service fan!! His family would read poetry together when he was growing up. My parents liked poetry too. I enjoyed it in school. All different types. This is a good ballad!!!
Paul–This is pure delight. I was first introduced to the poem in the 7th grade at Swain Elementary by a teacher named Mr. Benfield. He wasn’t my teacher, although I had, Mildred Wood, who could chill you to the bone when she drew the blinds in the classroom on a grey, grim day and launched into one of Edgar Allen Poe’s horror tales. Mr. Benfield could recite the entire poem from memory, complete with fine pauses and inflection, and rest assured his was a rapt audience. The only poet who comes to mind with a comparable mastery of rhyme and meter is another favorite of mine, Rudyard Kipling.
Incidentally, there’s a line somewhere in “The Cremation . . .” that reads: “A promise made is a debt unpaid.” There’s a passel of wisdom in that.
One final thought. Perhaps two decades ago I used something from the poem to make a point in an article I had written. To my considerable dismay and abject embarrassment, the untutored editor changed “cremation” to “creation.” I took some flack on that.
Just a little tidbit of information…We have a physical connection to the writer Robert W. Service. He was already a famed poet when he traveled through Athabasca, Alberta, called Athabasca Landing, in 1911 heading to the Yukon. He wrote ‘Athabaska Dick’ and ‘The Man from Athabaska’.
I love the poem Cremation of Sam McGee, but this is the first time I’ve heard it sung, Paul you did a great job!
I really enjoyed Paul’s musical adaptation of this poem. It’s been one of my favorite poems for years but I never thought about it being sung. Thanks, Paul. I was introduced to Robert Service and his poem about Sam McGee years ago by my Uncle Sam, one of my dad’s brothers. My uncle survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was one of 5 brothers who survived WWII. I can’t imagine being their mother. He lived in Alaska after WWII until his wife died and he moved to middle Tn in his later years. He was a colorful character, an outdoor writer, a hunting guide, radioman on a ferry and a legend to those who knew him. I have a sourdough starter as “insurance” (his term) in my freezer, that dates back to an old prospector during the Alaskan Gold Rush. I should check to see if it’s still alive after several years and make some bread or one of Uncle Sam’s other recipes. A friend of his was selling the same sourdough starter on the internet years ago. He told of it being so cold his eyelashes and beard would freeze. My sister and I visited him
and toured several places in Alaska over 50 ears ago but it was in August and not too cold.
Thanks for reminding me of Sam McGee. I might have made better grades in English if I had Paul for a teacher. He is as talented as the rest of your family.
What a delight to find this post! My father loved Robert W. Service’s poetry and would entertain us 3 girls by reciting The Cremation of Sam McGee, complete with sound effects and hilarious miming. As soon as I saw your title, I started ‘There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold…’ How many 8 year olds know the word ‘moil’? He also performed ‘The Shooting of Dan McGrew’ – gosh, that was 70 years ago, when families spent evenings together.
Good morning everyone! I’ve never heard this poem before either. Always enjoy hearing Paul singing for us.
Great job, Paul, on one of my favorite poems. Even for a literary dullard like me, it is a pure joy to read aloud, and I enjoyed it set to the moaning minor melody;-).
Re: warning the 6th grade students about the grisly nature – I can only speak to the frame of mind of a sixth grade boy over six decades ago, but although we didn’t read the poem, it was exactly the sort of thing in which my (to use a Robert Service term) chums and I would’ve taken great delight.
I expect you’ll have a note from br’er Jim on this; it’s one of his favorites as well.
Correction: the computer snared me again! The two words “team around” in my earlier post was supposed to be “trammeling around”.
A favorite of mine and my brother. We found it in an old lit textbook though why we had that book I do not know. We could recite reams of it and would when we were out team doing around in the woods. We always took it in the spirit of a tall tale, but Mr. Service may have been working from some more substantial knowledge. You did a fine job and convince me (though I was sure already) that you are a great teacher. You combine the two essentials; knowledge of subject and caring for the students. I think there is a third also which I have no doubt is also yours, a love of truth. I have no doubt you made a lasting positive influence on your students which for some of them has only grown since. The very best any of us can do is – I think – captured in the scriptural phrase “served his generation by the will of God”.
Happy Sunday and daylight savings time! We jump forward today giving us an hour longer of sunlight. Well, on days it’s actually sunny…lol. This morning in my area of NC it’s starting off very cloudy, but hopefully the clouds will move on soon.
I watched Paul’s video of the song on YouTube and I have to say it was a little more up beat than I expected, given the song title sounds sad. Paul was very smart to use the poem to teach his literature class because most kids seem to like poems like that. I not so much, but to hear all the information Paul gave about the song made it interesting. My granddaughter would love having him as a teacher.
For the ones that claim this one hour messes them up so so bad, try doing what I did along with many others working rotating/swing shifts. Work 7 eight hour days in a row, be off 48 HOURS, not 2 days, and then go back for another 7 days on a different shift. I did get one 4 day weekend off each month. You never really adjust to any shift. I was never able to do more than nap during the day when working the nighttime shift-graveyard, 3rd shift. Many nights I felt like I had sand in my eyes and saw some other coworkers that would be sick from lack of sleep, get sick on their stomachs and go to the restroom and throw up. I did this for over 20 years.
Boy, I am glad I didn’t have Paul for my teacher! I never liked poetry. I think it is apparent, that English or learning the proper to write were not my favorite subjects. I have read the Sam McGee poem but not heard the song. In high school, I learned to sit in the back of all of my classes, I didn’t get called on very often and it allowed me to check out all of the girls without being noticed!
good Sunday morning friends God bless you very much, God bless Paul and his family,