Susquehanna Mammy

A fictional song created by Lowry for Hugh's repertoire in Chapter 6 of Under The Volcano; "Well, he had other songs, the tides to some of which, Susquehanna Mammy, Slumbering Wabash, Mississippi Sunset, Dismal Swamp, etc., were perhaps revelatory, and that of one at least, I'm Homesick  for Being Homesick (of being homesick for home), Vocal Fox Trot, profound, if not positively Wordsworthian." (Pg. 169).

The song title related to Lowry's own juvenile song writing but is possibly inspired by James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Pioneers, or the Sources of the Susquehanna: a descriptive tale which makes reference to the American river and uses the derogatory word mammy - "a black woman serving as a nurse to white children especially formerly in the southern United States" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Lowry may have also had in mind the Joe Young/Sam Lewis song "My Mammy" plus Conrad Aiken's recollections of having a black nurse.

If The River Was Whiskey

‘And if the river were whisky
And ah was a duck,
Ah’d go down to the BOTTERN
An ah’d never come up. No sir,
Ah’d never come up.’

The above refrain is sung by one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus in Chapter 6 of Ultramarine (Pg. 176). The refrain is from a song variously known as ‘Hesitation Blues’, ‘Hesitating Blues’, ‘If The River Was Whiskey’ or ‘Divin’ Duck Blues’.

The exact origins of this song are lost in the mists of time. The traditional tune was arranged by W. C. Handy and published in 1915 as ‘Hesitating Blues’. The lyrics were entirely different from those of ‘Hesitation Blues’, and seldom used. In his Blues Anthology Handy stated that the tune was from an old spiritual.

‘Hesitation Blues’ was written/adapted by Billy Smythe and Scott Middleton. One of the first popular recordings of this song was an instrumental version by the Victor Military Band, with authorship attributed solely to Billy Smythe. It was recorded in 1915 at the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey. Later, a dispute over the credits was resolved by adding Art Gillham to the credits. Gillham, who was probably responsible for the lyrics, Gillham performed the song on radio and on 25 February 1925 recorded it for Columbia Records. The song was re-published in 1926 giving credit to the three writers. The 1926 publication was a different arrangement from the 1915 publication and featured different lyrics. Because the tune is traditional, many artists have recorded ‘Hesitation Blues’ crediting themselves as writer, though the lyrics of the 1926 publication are frequently used.

Charlie Poole and His North Carolina Ramblers

Versions of the lyrics vary widely, though the refrain is usually mostly consistent with the original. So which version did Lowry hear? The nearest version of the song I can find with the lyrics is ‘If The River Was Whiskey’ by Charlie Poole, which sounds like a speeded-up version of Jelly Roll Morton’s ‘Hesitation Blues’, but Morton’s version lacks the phrase ‘If the river was whiskey’. Charlie Poole was an American old-time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 and 1930. The band recorded ‘If The River Was Whiskey’ in 1930 for Columbia, which means that either Lowry heard this while writing Ultramarine or he is referring to an as yet unidentified version. One can see the attraction of the lyrics for a budding alcoholic like Lowry! The song has parallels with the story of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, who is reputed to have been drowned in a vat of Malmsey wine in 1478. The tradition may have originated in a joke, based on his reputation as a heavy drinker. Lowry, of course, would adopt the Plantagenet name for his alter ego in the novella Lunar Caustic.

In Ultramarine, the refrain from ‘Hesitating Blues’ comes while the crew are talking about black sailors. These discussions may not be based on notes made by Lowry on the voyage to the East but may have more to do with his first voyage to America via the Caribbean in 1928 to visit Conrad Aiken. One of the crew talks about hearing black bands in the Milk Market area of Bridgetown, Barbados, which Lowry visited on the voyage to America. This was probably Lowry’s first exposure to African American and Caribbean American music. Up to this point, all the documented jazz and blues that he had heard would have been white American interpretations of the idioms.

Marya Zaturensky's Russian Peasants

Lowry quotes from Marya Zaturensky's poem 'Russian Peasants' in Chapter 3 of Ultramarine; "They are dancing wildly tonight, wildly in the village of Czernoff." (Pg. 118).

Lowry probably read the poem in Harriet Monroe's Poetry: A Magazine of Verse XVI 1920.  This poem is possible example of Conrad Aiken's influence on Lowry's reading, after visiting Aiken in America in 1928, as Aiken contributed to Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 

THEY dance wildly today at the village of Czernoff—
The men and women and little children.
They dance wildly before the great lord’s castle,
Snapping their heels, cracking their fingers and sobbing
In hilarious passionate abandon.    

Wilder and wilder shriek the cymbals and violins,
Wilder and wilder arise the cries of the dancers,
And wilder the songs and the mad laughter.

Their faces are aglow, their eyes are shining
Radiant with vision and joy and splendor.      
Lithe are the bodies of the young women,
Marvelous the grace of the young men,
And strangely beautiful the wild chant of the old men and women.

They pass in a scarlet maze, singing, laughing, weeping:
Scarlet the embroidered bodices and petticoats,      
Scarlet the blouses of the men,
And scarlet and riotous the exhilarating air.

Tomorrow we shall see them reaping,
Backs bowed, and eyes apathetic with labor.
They will speak to you sorrowfully, hopelessly:      
“There is no joy in life,” they will say;
“Only with God is our great gladness—
His peace and his light be with you, brother"

Lowry's use of the poem is linked to the Russian roots of the prostitute Olga Sologub, who Dana meets in the red light district of Dairen, in a similar to use of scenes from the film Love's Crucifixion starring Olga Tschechowa - Lowry's spelling - as well as Chekhova's Russian roots. Lowry's is part of his creation of an innocent peasant past for Olga which fits into his fantasy of rescuing her from the brothel. The dancing of the village contrast with the dancing in the brothel; "a Negro fireman had taken his shoes off and did a crazy dance upon his enormous bare feet, a coconut in each hand and a cigar behind each ear. The music rose to a scream of dreadful pain. Another Negro joined the first in his dance. Modo and Maha." (Pg. 118). Lowry's reference to Modo and Maha are 2 of the 5 fiends in Poor Tom named by Edgar's in Shakespeare's King Lear. This is a clear contrast by Lowry between the "light" of the Russain village and the "darkness" of the 2 black sailors.