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The eighth graders at Benson Village School perofrmed their ballad on Wednesday before a packed gym. Below is an earlier slideshow of the ballad with Pete Sutherland on voice. This was the second of our YWP Ballad Writing Residency which was underwritten by the Lake Champlain Basin Program.
The Benson performance made the Front Page of the Rutland Herald on Thursday, click here for the link.
And later on Thursday, Pete performed parts of both ballads on Vermont Public Radio's Vermont Edition. Podcast above.
Words below....
MIMI'S SONG
Oh my name is Marion Munger
In Benson Landing I dwell
Been living right here for 91 years
And a story to you I can tell
We were crossing the lake to the school bus
We were pushing a boat on a sled
A boat past its prime full of books and supplies
How we wished we were back home in bed
For the shoreline just seemed to get further
Our noses ran hard from the cold
The ice was as thin as a page in a book
We wondered how long it would hold
"Hey Sis, we better get moving
Just hear that old ice boom and crack
It sounds like a shot from a cannon
Well, maybe the redcoats are back!"
It was going to high school the hard way
There was no other way we could go
But we always did manage to get there
On those winter days so long ago
Oh my name is Marion Munger
In Benson Landing I dwell
Been living right here for 91 years
And a story to you I can tell
My mother was rowing the ferry
The crossing was easy and fast
Just like my grandfather had taught her
And that's how our summer days passed
Til one afternoon on the fall pole
I jumped, and what do you think?
My sister went flying out over the rail
A splash, and down she did sink
"Freda fell into the water!"
"Where?" cried my mother, "oh, where?
"Under the boat!" - then we looked again
And there we could see it - her hair!
My mother dove in to retrieve her
A doctor onboard brought her 'round
She never was fond of the water
Since the day that she nearly was drowned
Oh my name is Marion Munger
In Benson Landing I dwell
Been living right here for 91 years
And a story to you I can tell
A man drove onto our ferry
When suddenly he realized
He didn't know which pedal was which
He was in for a big surprise
His Model T went for the water
When his foot thought the gas was the brake
And soon he'd provided a new mobile home
For the catfish down there in the lake
Somebody dove in to help him
While others stood helplessly by
In a moment he rose to the surface
"I forgot how to stop it," he cried
"Get a horse," an old-timer suggested
"Get two - or better yet four!"
They hitched up a team to the bumper
And that's how the car came ashore
Oh my name is Marion Munger
In Benson Landing I dwell
Been living right here for 91 years
And a story to you I can tell
With a basket of backyard apples
Our rowboat approached the big yacht
We were going to see the governor
Til voices called out, "No, you're not!"
Four handsome young sailors with orders
They stood looking down at our crew
My sister and I and two boys from nearby
It seemed our adventure was through
Then the governor's wife came a-running
Crying, "Don't chase the children away!"
The sailors they hauled up our basket
Not too glad, but they had to obey
Hard telling the fate of those apples
But we had a very nice chat
With a lady named Eleanor Roosevelt
In Benson - imagine that!
Oh my name is Marion Munger
In Benson Landing I dwell
Been living right here for 91 years
And a story to you I can tell
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Submitted by ggevalt on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 18:34
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