GORMAN, LAWRENCE (1846-1917)

GORMAN, LAWRENCE, folk poet and songwriter; b. Lot 13, P.E.I., 1846, s/o Thomas Gorman and Ann Donahue; m. 1st, Mary Mahoney, and 2nd, 1897, Julia H. Lynch, of Bangor, Me; d. Brewer, Me, 31 Aug 1917.

Lawrence ("Larry") Gorman was one of thirteen children of a respected shopkeeper who was also a member of the Prince Edward Island Assembly. The black sheep of the family, he left school early and became a woodsworker. Ironically, while he was employed at his lowly labors he wrote scores of songs which found a place of prominence in the folklore of the region. He became a master, in particular, of the satirical song, in which he poked ungentle fun at people and situations which he considered to be deserving of ridicule. Today he is regarded as the greatest of the many balladists of the lumber woods of the Maritime provinces and northeastern States.

Gorman worked on the Miramichi in the 1870s and 80s and based his best-known satire, "The Scow on Cowden Shore," on the shenanigans of a crew of Miramichi river drivers. In the song, the crew has reached the South West Boom and anchored their scow at the farm of Alexander A. Cowden. The song has a unique opening stanza, in which Gorman introduces himself:

My name is Larry Gorman,

To all hands I mean no harrum,

You need not be alarumed,

For you've heard of me before.

I can make a song and sing it,

I can fix it neat and bring it,

And the title that I'll give it

Is the Scow on Cowden Shore.

The following is stanza six of fourteen:

There was the Widow Winnie,

She sold ale and cockaninny,

To get the poor fools' pennies

She sold apples by the score.

She sold whiskey, gin and fly beer,

Somewhat porter, ale and cider,

Which made them whoop and stagger

Round the Scow on Cowden Shore.

This and other Gorman songs enjoyed a rebirth on the Miramichi in the 1950s when the Miramichi Folksong Festival was founded by Louise Manny.

Around 1885 Gorman migrated to Maine, where he subsequently made his home. An academic study of his life and work, entitled Larry Gorman: The Man Who Made the Songs, was published in 1964 by Edward D. Ives.