Jim Fisk (OT2003-3012-011)

Jim Fisk (OT2003-3012-011)

James Fisk

Jim Fisk, Jr.

Song excerpted from audio recording OT2003-3012, part of VFC2003-0007 Margaret MacArthur Collection.

Margaret MacArthur Collection -- VFC2003-0007. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

1964-07-15

en

VFC2003-0007 OT2003-3012-011

Rights Holder
Vermont Folklife Center

Jim Fisk

Jim Fisk/Fiske

Folk Music Index (http://www.ibiblio.org/folkindex)

[At first Atwood recalls a fragment of Frog & Mouse. "Jim Fisk" singing begins at 1:24]
            
Jim Fisk was a man

If I listen a while I'll sing you a song
Of this glorious land of the free
And the difference between the rich and the poor
In a trial by jury you'll see

If you're rich you can hold up your head
And walk out from your own prison door
But they'll you up high if you've no friend and all
Let the rich go but hang up the poor

I think of a man now dead in his grave
A good man as ever was born
Jim Fisk he was called and his money he sent
To the poor and the outcast forlorn

If man lived in trouble Fisk helped him along
To drive the green wolf from his door
He strove to do right but he may he have done wrong
But he never went back on the poor

[Atwood stops singing, begins talking about Jim Fisk]

References:

• Macarthur, Margaret. "The Search for More Songs from the Hills of Vermont. http://www.cdss.org/tl_files/cdss/newsletter_archives/supplements/summer%202011_coldbrook_macarthur.pdf
• Laws index number F18. Laws, G. Malcolm. Native American Balladry. University of Texas Press (1964).

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