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“Make way for the Cripple Creeek Ferry
The waters going down it’s a mighty tight squeeze”
Keep on Rocking: Neil Young in 2009
The lyrics are delightfully childish, the lenth of the song short enough to keep almost any infant transfixed. It makes me wonder if children in Ontario sing about the Cripple Creek Ferry at school. I know I remember singing When I’m Sixty-Four by The Beatles in my early-years and years later laughing at the memory when I listened to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Where is Cripple Creek, and does the Ferry exist? My google search gave me one likely possibility – Cripple Creek was a gold rush town, in Colorado, and seeing as this song closes Neil Young’s third solo album, “After The Gold Rush” I don’t think there can be any other location. The gold hasn’t left Cripple Creek – the underground mines may have closed long ago, but now visitors are mined for their gold in the numerous casinos that have popped up in the historic town. There is no raging creek to cross in this town. I am tempted to think someone may have had a little too much to drink after losing at blackjack, discovered the narrow creek running down off the hills and attempted to convince anyone interested that he was indeed a mighty river captain. Only, they realized Cripple Creek isn’t exactly New Orleans.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I’ve always wondered about the prolific “cripple creek” reference in many traditional folk type songs. My sister’s group (http://www.daybreakfolk.com/home.htm) has a song called “Cripple Creek” (http://www.daybreakfolk.com/mp3s/crippleCreekSample.mp3) in their repertoire, and I just heard a reference to it on ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’ which is set in Colorado. (it’s ok, you can laugh at me!).
October 7th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Your sister’s group gets me jingly jangling – I bet they sound awesome live!