Little Floyd Collins

[MCKEITHAN,CLIFFORD M.]

A friend has asked for the words to a
song called Little Floyd Collins.

I don't have it in my collection and
am not familiar with it. I checked
to see if he was confusing it with
Pretty Boy Floyd, but he says it is
completely different. Does anyone
have any information and perhaps the
words to this one?

Thanks!

--
MCKEITHAN,CLIFFORD M.
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!cm9
Internet: c...@prism.gatech.edu

[Mike Smolin]

From article <79...@hydra.gatech.EDU>, by c...@prism.gatech.EDU (MCKEITHAN,CLIFFORD M.):

> A friend has asked for the words to a
> song called Little Floyd Collins.
>

The reference is to Floyd Collins, the solo caver
who got stuck and died in the cave that now carries
his name (in Kentucky ??).

Mike Smolin |
ntmtv!smo...@ames.arc.nasa.gov |

[Alan J. Steiner]

This may be the song "The Death of Floyd Collins" which was a hit for
Vernon Dalhart. The book "Country Music U.S.A." by folklorist Bill C.
Malone says it was released on at least nineteen different labels,
although the original was on Columbia in the 1920's.

Also, per that book, the song was written by Rev. Andrew Jenkins of Georgia.
Collins was a "spelunker" or cave explorer. He got stuck in the cave in
question and died there.

I gather that the song was recorded again during the 60's folk revival,
but I don't know who may have done those recordings.

You may find the song on historical country music reissues on Columbia or
something like the Smithsonian collections of country music.

Good luck!

Al Steiner
aste...@access.digex.com

[franc...@pasadena-dc.bofa.com]

I remember slightly a song about Floyd Collins. It may have been
about a mine disaster; sung in a "hillbilly" style, the chorus
mentioned "to his grave". I probably heard it 20 to 30 years ago.

This isn't much information, but may refresh some other networker's
memory.

[Marty Lindsey]

Floyd Collins was trapped on January 30, 1925, in a small limestone cave
known as Sand Cave in Barren County, Kentucky. Floyd already owned a going
commercial cave, Crystal, which was in competition with then privately-owned
Mammoth Cave which was nearby. Mammoth is between Crystal and the main
highway, so it captured most of the tourist trade. Floyd was trying to find
either a new cave or a new entrance to Mammoth which would be closer to the
main highway. Sand Cave's location made it perfect for Floyd's purpose.

In the most widely-accepted scenario of the entrapment, Floyd was crawling
out of the cave when his lantern tipped over and went out. At that moment he
was wriggling through a body-tight tube with a loose rock in the ceiling.
Thinking he was past this rock he gave a kick to help move himself through the
tube, bringing the rock down upon his ankle. He could not move the rock with
his legs, and due to the confining shape of the passage he could not reach the
rock with his hands. His struggles just brought more rock and dirt down around
him.

Floyd was eventually located and a rescue effort begun. It was impossible for
anyone to get at the rock which had Floyd's leg pinned, although a few people
were able to reach him, talk to him and feed him. A cub reporter from the
Louisville _Courier-Journal_, William "Skeets" Miller, interviewed Floyd in the
passage, came as close as anyone to rescuing Floyd, and won the 1926 Pulitzer
Prize for his reporting.

To make a long story short, a cave-in above Floyd closed the passageway to
rescuers and work on a rescue shaft began. The digging was agonizingly slow,
and Floyd was not reached until February 16, by which time he was dead. The
cave was sealed with Floyd's body remaining inside.

Later that year his body was removed from Sand Cave and buried outside his own
Crystal cave. Crystal was later sold by Floyd's father to an unscrupulous
businessman who dug poor Floyd up and placed his body in a glass-covered coffin
inside Crystal. Tourists came in droves to tour Crystal Cave and view the
body.

In 1963 the National Park Service bought Crystal Cave (now known as Floyd
Collins' Crystal Cave) and closed it to the public. Floyd's body remained in
the cave, which became the center of cave exploration in the area. In 1972,
in what is sometimes called the Mount Everest of cave exploration, Crystal
Cave was proven to be connected with Mammoth Cave. The surveyed length of the
system was then 172 miles, the longest cave in the world. Today the system
has over 300 surveyed miles of passage and is still the world's longest.

A couple of years ago Floyd's body was removed from Crystal Cave and reinterred
at the Mammoth Cave Baptist Church cemetery.

No wonder someone wrote a song about him...

For the authoritative story of Floyd Collins, read _Trapped!_ by Roger W.
Brucker and Robert K. Murray. It contains the lyrics to "The Death of Floyd
Collins," which I can post tomorrow.

Marty

Marty Lindsey
mc...@cas.org

[Mark Thomas]

aste...@access.digex.com (Alan J. Steiner) writes...

[stuff deleted]

>
>This may be the song "The Death of Floyd Collins" which was a hit for
>Vernon Dalhart. The book "Country Music U.S.A." by folklorist Bill C.
>Malone says it was released on at least nineteen different labels,
>although the original was on Columbia in the 1920's.
>
>Also, per that book, the song was written by Rev. Andrew Jenkins of Georgia.
>Collins was a "spelunker" or cave explorer. He got stuck in the cave in
>question and died there.
>
>I gather that the song was recorded again during the 60's folk revival,
>but I don't know who may have done those recordings.
>
>You may find the song on historical country music reissues on Columbia or
>something like the Smithsonian collections of country music.
>

It's not on the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music,
but the RCA recording by Dalhart was reissued on one of RCA's
"Vintage Series" compilations in the 60's ("Native American
Ballads"). I expect that one of Dalhart's recordings of the song
is on one of the several collections of his stuff on Old
Homestead Records, which should still be available.

Dalhart also apparently recorded a version entitled "The Death of
Floyd Collins Waltz" :) (Maybe just the same song in 3/4 time.)

The inimitable Red River Dave recorded a smooth, somewhat lively
version of the song in the mid-40's, but I don't think it's ever
been reissued on LP. It fits in nicely with his repertoire of
topical songs (although the story was already 20 years old when
he recorded it; I guess that's why it was just a B side to "I
Wish I Had My First Wife Back," the song he must have expected to
spur sales. :)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Thomas | The train ... traditional,
Evans Library, Texas A&M University | yet environmentally sound
(409) 845-5741 / FAX (409) 845-6238 |
mthomas@tamvenus / mth...@tamu.edu | --Lisa Simpson