White Water Man (original)

[Glennwillow]

I wrote this song back in 1987, 36 years ago, with help from my wife and inspired by a poem called "White Water Man" by Diane Ellison who I knew from my local area in Washington state. Diane Ellison was a world champion log roller.

I thought it might be fun to record this song today with much better recording equipment. The song tells the story of Diane's grandfather who lived in the same house as Diane and who worked on a log boom right near their house on the river.

A log boom was a gathering of logs on the river into a huge raft to be pulled by a tugboat downriver to the sawmill. This was before there were roads into the logging areas or log trucks to carry these huge logs.

Diane learned to be a log roller in high school with her father's help. She told me that when she first listened to my cassette recording of this composition, she was driving into town and had to pull over on the river road because she was crying so much she couldn't see. Her grandfather drowned on that log boom when he fell through the logs and then the logs covered up his return to the surface. It was dangerous work and a lot of boom men died like that. Diane Ellison has since passed away; she was, I think, 7 years older than I.

I hope you like this. Thanks for listening.

- Glenn

[Honkycat]

Brilliant Glenn! Can't believe you wrote that, it's so good. You can still really hit those high notes in the harmonies too! Excellent job!

[Coler]

Glenn that's an exceptional piece of songwriting and musicianship of which you can be very proud.

I intend to listen many more times.

[islandguitar]

Just wonderful, Glenn! Loving how this all came together with upgraded equipment and full sound you've created. Great story line which you know and have to a certain extent "lived" through your connection and friendship with Diane.
Thoroughly enjoyed this personal composition and creation!

[Acousticado]

I like everything about this song, Glenn...the composition, performance, vibe, production. Nicely done. Maybe I’ve missed other posted songs of yours in the past, but I’ve long wondered if you’ve composed any. I’m glad I’ve finally found out.

[troutmiester]

Great songwriting and performance. Similar to something Lightfoot might have written had he grown up in the Pacific Northwest.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Honkycat

Brilliant Glenn! Can't believe you wrote that, it's so good. You can still really hit those high notes in the harmonies too! Excellent job!

Thank you Honkycat!

I'm so pleased that you like this! The harmony lines were very high for me, especially as I have gotten older; when my wife and I used to perform this, she sang the harmony line and so it was easy with her alto voice. Me singing an alto line is a stretch!

Thanks for your kind enthusiasm! Much appreciated!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Coler

Glenn that's an exceptional piece of songwriting and musicianship of which you can be very proud.

I intend to listen many more times.

Thank you Coler!

I'm glad you are enjoying this recording and that you feel it came out reasonably well! Thank you for your kind comments and encouragement!

And if you do listen to this song more than once, well... that's very cool!

I hope all is well for you and your family!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Just wonderful, Glenn! Loving how this all came together with upgraded equipment and full sound you've created. Great story line which you know and have to a certain extent "lived" through your connection and friendship with Diane.
Thoroughly enjoyed this personal composition and creation!

Thank you Fred!

I really appreciate your listening and your kind comments! I'm glad you felt this came out well!

It is a fascinating story. As I drive by her house on the way into town and see the pilings below on the river where the log boom used to be, I think of this song and her story every single time I drive past.

Another interesting connection: my son, Ian, who teaches voice lessons at the local college had Diane Ellison's grandson as a longtime voice student, a very nice young man.

I hope all is well for you, Fred!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

I like everything about this song, Glenn...the composition, performance, vibe, production. Nicely done. Maybe I’ve missed other posted songs of yours in the past, but I’ve long wondered if you’ve composed any. I’m glad I’ve finally found out.

Hi Tom!

I'm so glad you like this! Really pleased! Thank you for the kind comments!

I have written a ton of songs in my past, and my wife and I along with our three kids made a decent amount of money performing around the Pac NW as a family from 1987-1992. These days I have spent most of my time doing covers because that is generally what people are interested in and I can easily do that by myself. (My wife has had enough of the music business.) The few original songs I have posted on YouTube have not done particularly well. I guess we'll see how this one does. I have always liked this song.

Thanks so much for your support, Tom! I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by troutmiester

Great songwriting and performance. Similar to something Lightfoot might have written had he grown up in the Pacific Northwest.

Hi Troutmiester!

Thank you!

You are right in that my songs definitely have a Gordon Lightfoot kind of vibe to them. I guess it goes to show the deep impact his music has had on me over the years. And also, we are similar kind of guitar players and our voices are located in the same place on the musical scale. We are both baritones with decent upper vocal ranges.

Thanks so much for your kind words of encouragement! Much appreciated!

I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn

[LiveMusic]

That's super, as usual, Glenn. I find the composition really nice. I also thought of Gordon Lightfoot!

It's odd... I immediately was thinking what a dangerous job this must have been, and then as I continued reading your story... yep... how terribly tragic! Sure glad they got away from that!

Terrific skills!

[Rudy4]

Hi Glenn,

Everything about this is top shelf! Great writing, performance, and video work.

The song and accompanying details of its origin are much appreciated. Thanks for putting in the time and effort for this.

My hope is that someone will do a new documentary on the "forgotten past" that the song relates and will use it for the sound track.

[KevWind]

Another great production Glenn and love the song . Really liked the tasteful lead riffs on your LP

The theme and lexicon took me back to my childhood in Oregon when my family would regularly go waterskiing on the Willamette River where log booms and rafts were a regular feature
And a friend of mine worked a few summers logging for Crown Zellerbach
Pretty dangerous occupation as I recall

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

That's super, as usual, Glenn. I find the composition really nice. I also thought of Gordon Lightfoot!

It's odd... I immediately was thinking what a dangerous job this must have been, and then as I continued reading your story... yep... how terribly tragic! Sure glad they got away from that!

Terrific skills!

Hi Bill!

Thank you so much! I'm so pleased that you enjoyed this. I agree, it does have a bit of a Gordon Lightfoot sound to it.

Early logging was an incredibly dangerous way to make a living. Two or three men died every day in the woods from some terrible tragedy. It's still dangerous today, but not nearly as bad as the early days. And fishing, too, is dangerous out on the ocean where storms are so common, and that's the other main occupation here in Grays Harbor County where I live. The ocean off the mouth of the Columbia River is known as The Graveyard of the Pacific.

It's a good thing they got away from log booms because it's so hard on water quality. The tannic acid from the wood is bad for the fish, too. And it was very dangerous for people, of course. I'm sure they got away from it for economic reasons.

As a point of interest, when the great San Francisco Fire of 1906 took place, the large majority of the wood for rebuilding San Francisco came from Grays Harbor in Washington state where I live. Another interesting item, the sitka spruce top for my 1967 Martin D-35 came from Posey Manufacturing in Hoquiam, WA, about 30 minutes drive away from where I sit this morning.

I hope all is well for you! Thank you for taking time to listen!

- Glenn