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Letters from Quotidia 2026 Weekend Supplement 15
Title of series
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Welcome to Letters from Quotidia 2026 Weekend Supplement 15. Last weekend the theme was Heroes. I suppose this post is an extension of that. I cast my mind back to when I was twelve at my aunt Annie’s place in Glenariff, in my view, the most beautiful of the Glens of Antrim, where her husband Felix had a timber business beside the small river that emptied into Red Bay.
We were visiting from Aruba that summer and my eldest brother, Jim, was singing along to a song about the Yukon popular at that time in Ireland, North to Alaska, by Johnny Horton. The references to the Yukon piqued my interest because, at that time, I was reading Jack London’s novels and short stories. The Call of the Wild made a deep impression on me, and I still think of it as a classic. The story of the bond between human and animal is as old as our species.
A large dog, Buck, stolen from his pampered life in California, is subjected to maltreatment as he is broken in and sold as a sled dog in the Klondike. There he passes from situation to situation, enduring the hardships of learning to be part of a team. He bonds finally with John Thornton, who rescues him from his previous incompetent owners. Buck reverts to the call of the wild when John Thorntom is killed by native Indians and subsequently leads a wolf pack into legend.
Now, this bare-bones synopsis does not do justice to the tale, but what’s not to like here for a boy on the verge of being a teenager? Jack London has many of the attributes of the classical hero: a wanderer over land and sea, a prodigious energy, love of nature, animals, consorting with interesting people, gaining fame and fortune at an early age and who, like many a hero, died at a young age- he was just forty when he breathed his last, in fulfilment of his Credo which states in part, I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot…I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. I get that.
The Irish love country music so it’s no surprise they took to Johnny Horton who recorded Honky Tonk Man in 1956 and The Battle of New Orleans in 1959. Most Irish listeners loved this song particularly because it tells of the rout of British forces by Andrew Jackson’s motley force of regular troops, militia, freed African Americans, and even pirates such as the notorious Jean Lafitte.
North to Alaska was recorded in 1960 but, tragically, Johnny Horton was killed in a car crash in November that year. In a sombre coincidence both Johnny Horton and Hank Williams gave their final performance at Austin’s Skyline Club in Texas. Also, Johnny had married Billie Jean Jones, Hank Williams’ widow, in 1953. Johnny Cash, a good friend, gave one of the readings at his funeral. Here’s my take on the song I first heard in Glenariff at age 12. [insert song]
I’ll continue my references to the frozen North with a recitation from one of Robert Service’s most popular pieces of verse- The Cremation of Sam Magee. There are strange things done in the midnight sun/By the men who moil for gold;/The Arctic trails have their secret tales/That would make your blood run cold;/The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,/But the queerest they ever did see/Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge/I cremated Sam McGee.//Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows./Why he left his home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only knows./He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;/Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.”//..And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,/And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,/He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;/And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”//Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:/”It’s the cursèd cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone./Yet ’tain’t being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;/So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.”//Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;/It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”/And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;/Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”//Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;/Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;/The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;/And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.//…And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;/And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door./It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear/ you’ll let in the cold and storm—/Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”//
Thinking about Sam Magee and his need for warmth, finding it even in the midst of a furnace, reminded me of another, older story about people in a furnace miraculously preserved. This one dates back to the Hellenistic Era and the story of Daniel where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are thrown into a furnace by Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to bow to his image. I tell the tale from the point of view of Shadrach but use his Hebrew name, Hananiah. [insert song]
North to Alaska (words and music Mike Phillips and Tillman Franks)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
Big Sam left Seattle in the year of ’92,
With George Pratt, his partner, and brother, Billy, too.
They crossed the Yukon River and found the bonanza gold.
Below that old white mountain just a little south-east of Nome.
Sam crossed the majestic mountains to the valleys far below.
He talked to his team of huskies as he mushed on through the snow.
With the northern lights a-running wild in the land of the midnight sun,
Yes, Sam McCord was a mighty man in the year of nineteen-one.
Where the river is winding,
Big nuggets they’re finding.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
George turned to Sam with his gold in his hand,
Said: “Sam you’re a-lookin’ at a lonely, lonely man.
“I’d trade all the gold that’s buried in this land,
“For one small band of gold to place on sweet little Ginnie’s hand.
“‘Cos a man needs a woman to love him all the time.
“Remember, Sam, a true love is so hard to find.
“I’d build for my Ginnie, a honeymoon home.
“Below that old white mountain just a little south-east of Nome.”
Where the river is winding,
Big nuggets they’re finding.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
In the Furnace- Hananiah’s Tale (words and music Quentin Bega)
C Am Dm G
Oh great king you changed my name, clothed me in garments strange
C Am Dm G
Made me forget my mother’s tongue and habits from my home
F Em
Here I’m in your service with two friends from our old tribe
F Em G
Attentive to your every need and whim you may describe
G# A# G# A#
You say do this and it is done- a gesture’s a command
G# A# G# A# G//
There is no person higher anywhere in all this land
But oh great king I can’t bow down before you as my saviour
My comrades too will not do this though risking your disfavour
Yes I’m in your service but that’s one thing I can’t do
Throw me in the furnace and my boon companions too
You say do this and it is done- a gesture’s a command
There is no person higher anywhere in all this land
And as the flames rose higher and the walls began to glow
Joining us an angel walked around us to and fro
Above the sway of kings and queens the One reigns absolute
Before Him all the powers of this earth must stay mute
His knowledge and his wisdom and his mercy are subline
His holy kingdom will endure until the end of time
His holy kingdom will endure until the end of time
Credits: All written text, song lyrics andmusic (including background music) written and composed by Quentin Bega unless otherwise specified in the credits section after individual posts. Illustrative excerpts from other texts identified clearly within each podcast. I donate to and use Wikipedia frequently as one of the saner sources of information on the web.
Technical Stuff: Microphone-songs Shure SM58; (for the podcast spoken content) Audio Technica AT 2020 front-facing with pop filter); Apogee 76K also used for songs and spoken text. For recording and mixing down: 64-bit N-Track Studio 10 Extended used; Rubix 22 also used for mixing of microphone(s) and instruments. I use the Band in a Box/RealBand 2023 combo for music composition.
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By Quentin BegaTitle of series
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Welcome to Letters from Quotidia 2026 Weekend Supplement 15. Last weekend the theme was Heroes. I suppose this post is an extension of that. I cast my mind back to when I was twelve at my aunt Annie’s place in Glenariff, in my view, the most beautiful of the Glens of Antrim, where her husband Felix had a timber business beside the small river that emptied into Red Bay.
We were visiting from Aruba that summer and my eldest brother, Jim, was singing along to a song about the Yukon popular at that time in Ireland, North to Alaska, by Johnny Horton. The references to the Yukon piqued my interest because, at that time, I was reading Jack London’s novels and short stories. The Call of the Wild made a deep impression on me, and I still think of it as a classic. The story of the bond between human and animal is as old as our species.
A large dog, Buck, stolen from his pampered life in California, is subjected to maltreatment as he is broken in and sold as a sled dog in the Klondike. There he passes from situation to situation, enduring the hardships of learning to be part of a team. He bonds finally with John Thornton, who rescues him from his previous incompetent owners. Buck reverts to the call of the wild when John Thorntom is killed by native Indians and subsequently leads a wolf pack into legend.
Now, this bare-bones synopsis does not do justice to the tale, but what’s not to like here for a boy on the verge of being a teenager? Jack London has many of the attributes of the classical hero: a wanderer over land and sea, a prodigious energy, love of nature, animals, consorting with interesting people, gaining fame and fortune at an early age and who, like many a hero, died at a young age- he was just forty when he breathed his last, in fulfilment of his Credo which states in part, I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot…I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. I get that.
The Irish love country music so it’s no surprise they took to Johnny Horton who recorded Honky Tonk Man in 1956 and The Battle of New Orleans in 1959. Most Irish listeners loved this song particularly because it tells of the rout of British forces by Andrew Jackson’s motley force of regular troops, militia, freed African Americans, and even pirates such as the notorious Jean Lafitte.
North to Alaska was recorded in 1960 but, tragically, Johnny Horton was killed in a car crash in November that year. In a sombre coincidence both Johnny Horton and Hank Williams gave their final performance at Austin’s Skyline Club in Texas. Also, Johnny had married Billie Jean Jones, Hank Williams’ widow, in 1953. Johnny Cash, a good friend, gave one of the readings at his funeral. Here’s my take on the song I first heard in Glenariff at age 12. [insert song]
I’ll continue my references to the frozen North with a recitation from one of Robert Service’s most popular pieces of verse- The Cremation of Sam Magee. There are strange things done in the midnight sun/By the men who moil for gold;/The Arctic trails have their secret tales/That would make your blood run cold;/The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,/But the queerest they ever did see/Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge/I cremated Sam McGee.//Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows./Why he left his home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only knows./He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;/Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.”//..And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,/And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,/He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;/And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”//Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:/”It’s the cursèd cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone./Yet ’tain’t being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;/So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.”//Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;/It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”/And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;/Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”//Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;/Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;/The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;/And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.//…And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;/And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door./It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear/ you’ll let in the cold and storm—/Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”//
Thinking about Sam Magee and his need for warmth, finding it even in the midst of a furnace, reminded me of another, older story about people in a furnace miraculously preserved. This one dates back to the Hellenistic Era and the story of Daniel where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are thrown into a furnace by Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to bow to his image. I tell the tale from the point of view of Shadrach but use his Hebrew name, Hananiah. [insert song]
North to Alaska (words and music Mike Phillips and Tillman Franks)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
Big Sam left Seattle in the year of ’92,
With George Pratt, his partner, and brother, Billy, too.
They crossed the Yukon River and found the bonanza gold.
Below that old white mountain just a little south-east of Nome.
Sam crossed the majestic mountains to the valleys far below.
He talked to his team of huskies as he mushed on through the snow.
With the northern lights a-running wild in the land of the midnight sun,
Yes, Sam McCord was a mighty man in the year of nineteen-one.
Where the river is winding,
Big nuggets they’re finding.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
George turned to Sam with his gold in his hand,
Said: “Sam you’re a-lookin’ at a lonely, lonely man.
“I’d trade all the gold that’s buried in this land,
“For one small band of gold to place on sweet little Ginnie’s hand.
“‘Cos a man needs a woman to love him all the time.
“Remember, Sam, a true love is so hard to find.
“I’d build for my Ginnie, a honeymoon home.
“Below that old white mountain just a little south-east of Nome.”
Where the river is winding,
Big nuggets they’re finding.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They’re goin’ North, the rush is on.
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
In the Furnace- Hananiah’s Tale (words and music Quentin Bega)
C Am Dm G
Oh great king you changed my name, clothed me in garments strange
C Am Dm G
Made me forget my mother’s tongue and habits from my home
F Em
Here I’m in your service with two friends from our old tribe
F Em G
Attentive to your every need and whim you may describe
G# A# G# A#
You say do this and it is done- a gesture’s a command
G# A# G# A# G//
There is no person higher anywhere in all this land
But oh great king I can’t bow down before you as my saviour
My comrades too will not do this though risking your disfavour
Yes I’m in your service but that’s one thing I can’t do
Throw me in the furnace and my boon companions too
You say do this and it is done- a gesture’s a command
There is no person higher anywhere in all this land
And as the flames rose higher and the walls began to glow
Joining us an angel walked around us to and fro
Above the sway of kings and queens the One reigns absolute
Before Him all the powers of this earth must stay mute
His knowledge and his wisdom and his mercy are subline
His holy kingdom will endure until the end of time
His holy kingdom will endure until the end of time
Credits: All written text, song lyrics andmusic (including background music) written and composed by Quentin Bega unless otherwise specified in the credits section after individual posts. Illustrative excerpts from other texts identified clearly within each podcast. I donate to and use Wikipedia frequently as one of the saner sources of information on the web.
Technical Stuff: Microphone-songs Shure SM58; (for the podcast spoken content) Audio Technica AT 2020 front-facing with pop filter); Apogee 76K also used for songs and spoken text. For recording and mixing down: 64-bit N-Track Studio 10 Extended used; Rubix 22 also used for mixing of microphone(s) and instruments. I use the Band in a Box/RealBand 2023 combo for music composition.