Camp Century and "Iceworm"

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South
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Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Sep 2007, 10:01
Location: USA

Camp Century and "Iceworm"

#1

Post by South » 28 Mar 2019, 10:34

https://www.history.com/news/project-ic ... -greenland

Good morning all,

Per ...

In 1959 no one would have guessed that a research facility in Greenland was really a disguise for something else.

Well, anything learned from the first ice core that Army researchers recovered ? ... citrus groves in vicinity of Thule ?

Share and share alike; "Share Bears": "...generals at the Army - who wanted their own ... "


~ Bob

eastern Virginia, USA

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henryk
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Posts: 2560
Joined: 27 Jan 2004, 02:11
Location: London, Ontario

Re: Camp Century and "Iceworm"

#2

Post by henryk » 28 Mar 2019, 20:46

And they had a theme song:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/ ... -again-emc
When the Ice Worms Nest Again
Article by Edith Fowke
Published Online October 10, 2011 Last Edited March 4, 2015

"When the Ice Worms Nest Again." The favourite song of prospectors and trappers in the Canadian north, this ballad later became the theme song for the annual gatherings of silver miners at Cobalt, Ont, and fur trappers at The Pas, Man, as well.

"When the Ice Worms Nest Again." The favourite song of prospectors and trappers in the Canadian north, this ballad later became the theme song for the annual gatherings of silver miners at Cobalt, Ont, and fur trappers at The Pas, Man, as well. Its origin is not clear, but it seems to have been sung first in northern British Columbia and the Yukon and may date from the Klondike gold rush of 1898. Robert W. Service published a piece with this title in his Twenty Bath-Tub Ballads in 1938, but the traditional verses differ considerably from his. Wilf Carter also recorded a slightly different version for RCA Victor in about the 1940s (48-0319). The song is both published (Fowke and Johnston's Folk Songs of Canada, 1954) and recorded (Folk Songs of Canada, CS3) by Waterloo. Alan Mills can also be heard singing the song on Canada's Story in Song (Smithsonian Folkways FW3000). Murray Adaskin arranged the song for strings.

Lyrics
The following lyrics are as recorded by Wilf Carter. Typical for its time, Carter's version attempted to popularize images of Canada's north and its peoples. The song would be considered far more controversial today. Other variants of the song exist.

There's a husky, dusky maiden in the Arctic
And she waits for me but it is not in vain,
For some day I'll put my mukluks on and ask her
If she'll wed me when the ice worms nest again.

Chorus:
In the land of the pale blue snow,
Where it's ninety-nine below,
And the polar bears are roaming o'er the plain,
In the shadow of the Pole
I will clasp her to my soul,
We'll be happy when the ice worms nest again

For our wedding feast we'll have seal oil and blubber;
In our kayaks we will roam the bounding main;
All the walruses will look at us and rubber,
We'll be married when the ice worms nest again.

And when the blinkin' icebergs bound around us,
She'll present me with a bouncing baby boy.
All the polar bears will dance a rhumba 'round us
And the walruses will click their teeth with joy.

Final Chorus:

When some night at half-past two
I return to my igloo,
After sitting with a friend who was in pain,
She'll be waiting for me there,
With the hambone of a bear
And she'll beat me 'til the ice worms nest again.


South
Member
Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Sep 2007, 10:01
Location: USA

Re: Camp Century and "Iceworm"

#3

Post by South » 28 Mar 2019, 20:53

Good afternoon Henryk,

Real good !

Had not read "RCA Victor" in ages. Memories returned.

~ Bob

eastern Virginia, USA

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