MS used to go to summer camp every year. Her camps had many interesting traditions and funny pieces of folklore that she often brings back and performs for me. Her favorite pieces are the songs, of which there are many. Here is one:
Barges, I would like to go with you
I would like to sail the ocean blue
Barges, have you treasures in your hold
Do you fight with pirates brave and bold?
Out of my window, looking in the night
I can see the barges flickering light
Starboard’s glowing green and port is glowing red
I can see the barges from my bed
Barges, I would like to go with you
I would like to sail the ocean blue
Barges, have you treasures in your hold
Do you fight with pirates brave and bold?
How my heart longs to sail away with you
As you sail across the ocean blue
But I must sit beside my window clear
As the barges sail away from here
Barges, I would like to go with you
I would like to sail the ocean blue
Barges, have you treasures in your hold
Do you fight with pirates brave and bold?
Out of my window looking in the night
I can see the barges flickering light
Taking their cargo out into the sea
How I wish that someday they’d take me
M describes this song as one of longing. “It’s actually much more depressing than most of the other songs we sing,” she elaborates. Most of the camp songs are silly and lighthearted, but this one touches on serious themes of growing up and flying free. She says that the girls would be very moved whenever they sang this song. It seems to me that it is a song that allowed the girls to reflect. M describes camp as wild, hectic, and sometimes overwhelming. But, as she says, “The whole camp was at peace when we sang this.”
M explains how nothing is written down for the song. Each year the older girls pass all the traditions, songs, and stories down to the younger kids by singing the songs together. Music is an excellent way to pass on folklore because the contents of the story, as well as the melody, aid in memorizing the lyrics. In this sense, a folk song is really just a folk tale. There are similar elements and tools that aid in performance. For example, there are phrases that are repeated throughout.
A published version of this song, along with many other classic camp songs, can be found in Jack Horntip’s Camp Meriwether Camp Song Book.