Larry Gorman
He had a large mop of unruly reddish hair, a Roman nose, and a strong squared jaw. He was usually clean shaven, but sometimes had a moustache or a chin-whisker, but rarely a beard. About 6ft tall well built, with a strait back and a good pair of shoulders. Caustic wit with an unfailing memory, and wandering spirit, made him a living legend in much of the lumber woods of the east. Larry loved jokes, was a good mimic, had a flair for hitting people off in pencil caricatures. He was curious about everything, loved to read, was regarded as nosey due to his curiosity about people. [2]
A Larry Gorman experience
"Everyone Turns to look at the tall man at the end of the deacon seat. "Yeah, come on, Larry sing it for us," says another, and in a moment all hands are petitioning for the song. Gorman looks around the room and laughs. "Well, I guess I will, since you've found me out, Pete," he says looking at the card player, "but I don' t say that you'll like it too well."
The big man measures the poet with his eyes. "I might not," he says, "and then again I just might. It's no odds to me what you say about me. You just sing it, Larry Gorman, and we'll see."
There is a general air of apprehension as Gorman clears his throat and leans forward to sing. The men look from one to another, smiling nervously, as he begins. He does not have a good voice, but it is high and true, and the tune is a familiar, lilting one that they all know. Suddenly someone guffaws; then all begin to chuckle, as they hear one of their number lampooned; the victim rubs his palms on his thighs and grins sheepishly around the room. The song moves on , and one by one the men find they are all woven into it - some little thing that each one of them has done or said, a way he has of holding his head, a little morsel of downriver scandal that had all but been forgotten or had not been known. The laughter continues; sometimes a man will wince at the look of his neighbor and shake his head in amazement, but he is laughing. All the time, Pete is standing there waiting for his turn, and he doesn't have to wait long to discover that he has the place of honor; two double verses which discuss such varied matters as his broken nose, a team he sluiced three winters back, the size of his feet, and an interesting speculation on his affair with a bowlegged servant-girl from Renous. Pete is not laughing, but everyone else is. The song ends with Gorman's pious hope that none has been offended."[3]
Here are a few songs written by Larry Gorman
Monaghan's Raffle: One of Gorman's sisters, Bridget, had married a neighboring farmer by the name of Michael Monaghan. But Monaghan was not completely acceptable as a brother-in-law, for he had been married twice before and was much older than Bridget. Larry soon nicknamed him "Brigham," after the American Mormon leader Brigham Young. A connation of bigamy was intended.
The first stanza of the song sets the stage. Ned Ellis is alleged to have operated a "bootlegging" establishment in the Bideford area. The last two stanzas collected describe the raffle, a lottery event where prizes are won by persons buying chances. Raffles were popular social events in rural Prince Edward Island and frequently music and dancing accompanied the "draw." Gorman, in one of the stanzas that follows, manages with a single blow to insult his sister, Monaghan, Silas Ford's daughter, a poor Tom Dunn (called the shadow because of his slightness of build).
First to Fed Ellis' shanty
And then to the raffle did steer
Myself, Johnny Grant and white Sandy,
Determined to get on the beer.
I was sitting alone in the shanty.
Never thinking of anything of anything wrong,
When a piece of a brick
hit me square in the neck,
And vowed that I would make a song.
In came the heifer of Silie's
All dressed in her lustre so fine,
And her and the shadow
They danced in a four-hander
With Brigham and his concubine.
The quilt was a beautiful article,
Most anyone it would entice,
For the outside was all artificial
And the inside was covered with lice [4]
Michel McElroy: No one person ever seems to have suffered more abuse at Larry's hands than this McElroy. It is claimed that he did Larry out of some wages, but whether the injury was real or imagined, Larry was angry and went after McElroy with every weapon at his command. He drew pictures of McElroy and his family and gave them all long tails. Gorman is supposed to have made up thirty-four separate songs of McElroy. But the most abusive of them all, in fact probably the most vicious thing Larry ever wrote, is the last and longest of fragments: There were some ten or twelve more stanzas that have been left out.
Hail fishermen, for your own sake
I pray you all a warning take,
And if you should fish another year
Or ever happen to come here,
Of one great bogus, pray keep clear;
He'll rob an starve you all I fear,
His name is McElroy.
He has a wife that's much the same,
Who glories in the swindiling game;
Were he to rob both blind and lame,
She'd laugh and shout with joy.
His knavish tricks she does inspire,
She'll counsel with him and conspire,
She'll make the balls for him to fire,
This Mistress McElroy.
How holy and divine she looks,
When reading some pious and moral books,
While many a curious yarn she cooks
About some girl and boy.
God's holy laws she will impeach,
His pardon seldom she'll beseech,
With prayer and catechism teach
This Mistress McElroy
This McElroy is quite a fop,
A proud suspicious, naughty pup,
His head is tapering at the top,
Like some wild goose decoy [5].
A man immortalized by his wit, Larry Gorman lived on as a type of legend, as one whom everyone delighted in talking of. Like the class clown of our youth, Larry was not easily forgotten. His interest in others, led to their interest in him - either for the knowledge to stay away from him, or to hear just what he had to say about the guy down the street. His character was bittersweet to those in need of entertainment, he was funny until he found something to say about you that is.
Like the modern day fashion critic Mr. Blackwell, who searches for Hollywoods worst/best dressed, Larry Gorman searched the east coast for character flaws that would be interesting to add to his collection of songs. Unfortunately, the people he featured were not overly impressed with Larry's love of entertaining.
With the open minds of todays society, it is possible to be proud of the fact that Mr. Blackwell puts down one's taste and style. But, Larry's time was far from open-minded. I'm sure that he must have made more than a few enemies during his time, as well as many silent fans, who listened and laughed at hearing his familiar songs to lighten long days. In the age of the storyteller Larry was the "man who wrote the songs."
1. Rankin, Robert A. "Larry Gorman and Monaghan's Raffle." The Island Magazine. Fall/Winter 1976:1.
2. Ives, Edward Dawson. "Larry Gorman"
3. Ives, Edward Dawson. "Larry Gorman". prologue, page XV
4. Rankin, Robert A. "Larry Gorman and Monaghan's Raffle." The Island Magazine. Fall/Winter 1976:1.
5. Ives, Edward Dawson. "Larry Gorman". page 41