DEP029 Lake Rhymes

Lake Rhymes, Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region

NOW Back in print!! 148 page Hardcover book and 18 song companion CD

The Erie Canal
The Illinois and Michigan Canal
Haul Away Joe
Rolling Home
The Sailor’s Alphabet
The Lumberman’s Alphabet
Deep Blue Horizon
The Great Lakes Song
Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd
Shenandoah / Shenandore
The Persia’s Crew
Lost on the Lady Elgin
Yankee Brown
The Housewife’s Lament
The Red Iron Ore
The Christmas Ship
The Bigler’s Crew
The Crack Schooner Moonlight

Lake Rhymes, Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region (2004)
Lake Rhymes, Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region (2004)
A 148 page hardcover book and study guide with an 18 song companion CD. (plus $5.00 per order for shipping only with the book purchase CDs ship free)
Price: $40.00

Liner Notes

A songbook and study guide with historical photos and an 18-song companion CD by Lee and Joann Murdock
Published 2004, This book went out of print in just a few years. In 2019, we resurrected Lake Rhymes in a new deluxe Hardcover Edition. A few updates were made, but essentially the book’s content and the CD remain exactly the same.

Lake Rhymes is

  • an 18-song CD with 71 minutes of Lee Murdock performance
  • packaged with 146-page book containing
  • musical scores for all 18 songs
  • over 70 historic photos, maps and illustrations
  • the stories behind each song, vocabulary, background
  • worksheets and exercises for teachers and music enthusiasts
  • ideas for teachers to use the songs and books in teaching history, English, music and geography
  • ready to be enjoyed by anyone with an avid interest in maritime history or traditional folk music.

The songs are arranged in pairs, two songs to a chapter.

  • Chapter 1: Towpaths Through History: The Erie Canal, The Illinois and Michigan Canal
  • Chapter 2: Heaving and Hauling and Singing: Haul Away Joe, Rolling Home
  • Chapter 3: The ABC’s in the Workplace: The Sailor’s Alphabet, The Lumberman’s Alphabet
  • Chapter 4: Anthems, Songs of Celebration: The Deep Blue Horizon, The Great Lakes Song
  • Chapter 5: The Oral Tradition: Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd, Shenandoah–Shenandore
  • Chapter 6: Lament for the Lost at Sea: The Persia’s Crew, Lost on the Lady Elgin
  • Chapter 7: Tall Tales and Exaggerated Circumstances: Yankee Brown, The Housewife’s Lament
  • Chapter 8: The Ballad, Classic Stories in Song: The Red Iron Ore (E.C. Roberts), The Christmas Ship (featuring underwater photos of the Rouse Simmons in Lake Michigan)
  • Chapter 9: Off to the Races: The Bigler’s Crew, The Crack Schooner Moonlight

Lake Rhymes is available at Lee Murdock performances, in museums and specialty shops, and by mail order from this web site. (A few copies of the book can be purchase at good used bookstores or Amazon.com Though the book has been out of print for several years, it remains in big demand).

You can have a copy of Lake Rhymes donated to your school, with an assembly performance by Lee Murdock. School Fees start at $400 for one 50 minute presentation, or $650 for two performances in a half day, travel included. Contact Joann Murdock at 630-557-2742 or jmurdock@artistsofnote.com for info.

Trivia: Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region, Lee’s first study guide, was released on cassette, with a booklet), in 1989. This is the only recording of Lee’s that has ever gone out of print.


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