Cape Breton's Magazine

with guitar • and if anything, really, we like it better than the hard way we had to sing. So they kind of died. Marcella; We never stopped, we still sang our songs • but who was listening to them? Because now people were listening to the tv and radio. John James; I'll tell you, my son, what I think about the old songs. I think they are going to die with the old people. How can they go on when the ones that used to sing them are going to be dead? My father died with them and I'll die with them. Marcella; Well, I'll be back after I die singing them. Marcella Whitty; Some people don*t want to "part with their songs. I don't see any sense in that. Leave the songs when you're gone. Let them go wherever anyone wants them. I wouldn't keep a song from anyone, if they wanted. Why should I? Tell the truth now. I'll give them to any poor per? son that wants them. (And the old people that you went to as a child, would they ever say to you, "That's my song and I won't share it"?) No, my dear Godj no. Anyone who would say that, would be ignor? ant. 'Cause if I heard anyone singing these songs I'd say good luck to them. John James; Like the other fellow said, if you learned a song, well, that was your song. (What will happen to these old songs?) Marcella; I think the ones that get them, they'll sing them. Then if they've got children, they should learn them from them • and give them out to people that'll sing them and not let them die. Now I learned those songs when I was 13 or l4 or 15 and I used to sing them around • but no one ever came to ask me for them till Mike came up and then Ronnie MacEachern came. Before Ronnie came along I had pretty well stopped singing, clear of humming to my? self now and again. It was' hard to think of the old songs, so many verses in it. I'd lie in bed thinking back on the old songs, see could I put them together again, and I'd be for three nights • but I'd get them. John James; Now you take now, it's 40 years since we sang those songs. Well, there never was a thing about them till 3 or 4 years ago. We gave up singing those songs ourselves, years ago. The radios came out, the television. And we saw the way the songs were supposed to be sung, Our thanks to Ronnie MacEachern who first told us about the MacDougalls and Whittys and their songs, and who wrote out the music included here. Thanks as well to Steve Tittle of Dalhousie University for help notating the song about the sea ghost. I ANNOUNCING: CAPE BRETON TAPES. Songs sung by the MacDougalls and Whittys are the first in a new series of cassette tapes from Cape Breton's Magazine. For more information about CAPE BRETON TAPES and how to order them, see inside back cover of this magazine. Celtic 'odge... right on your doorstep Why not do something different for a change and come to Keltic Lodge, Ingonish Beach? Come to Keltic for dinner or Itonch and enjoy superb cuisine in a setting unsurpassed. Keltic Lodge in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park is adjacent to a superb 18 hole championship golf course, tennis courts and long sandy beaches. Keltic, open from June ? day, be it a day's trip. For reservations and rates, call manager Herman Falls at 1-285-2880 or write him at Keltic Lodge, Ingonish Beach. Victoria Countv. N. ."'. . Rnc iT,n. through October 13. have everything for a perfect holi- a weekend or longer. It's easy driving too. S.A.Iffrp?man Cth. PRESCRIPTIONS COSMETIGSTOiLETRIES. ETC. INVilNISS • PHONI 2St-2400 • NOVA SCOTIA • *rur? left at the Causeway-- Route 19 • It's a lovely way to go." Harbour Restaurant Open 8:00 a.m. to Midnight 1:00 a.m. Saturday Take Out Telephone (902) 224-2042 and Diet Dishes Cheticamp. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on request Children's Portions Try Our Butterscotch Pie