The Shooting of Dan McGrew
BY ROBERT W. SERVICE
A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;
The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;
Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And watching his luck was his light-o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou. (1)
When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and the glare,
There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear.
He looked like a man with a foot in the grave and scarcely the strength of a louse,
Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar, and he called for drinks for the house.
There was none could place the stranger’s face, though we searched ourselves for a clue;
But we drank his health, and the last to drink was Dangerous Dan McGrew. (2)
There’s men that somehow just grip your eyes, and hold them hard like a spell;
And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell;
With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done,
As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one.
Then I got to figgering who he was, and wondering what he’d do,
And I turned my head — and there watching him was the lady that’s known as Lou. (3)
His eyes went rubbering round the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze,
Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze.
The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool,
So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool.
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;
Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands — my God! but that man could play.4
Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,
And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;
With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,
A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;
While high overhead, green, yellow and red, the North Lights swept in bars? —
Then you’ve a hunch what the music meant. . . hunger and night and the stars. 5
And hunger not of the belly kind, that’s banished with bacon and beans,
But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means;
For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above;
But oh! so cramful of cosy joy, and crowned with a woman’s love —
A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true —
(God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge, — the lady that’s known as Lou.) (6)
Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear;
But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear;
That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil’s lie;
That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die.
‘Twas the crowning cry of a heart’s despair, and it thrilled you through and through —
“I guess I’ll make it a spread misere”, said Dangerous Dan McGrew. (7)
The music almost died away … then it burst like a pent-up flood;
And it seemed to say, “Repay, repay,” and my eyes were blind with blood.
The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash,
And the lust awoke to kill, to kill … then the music stopped with a crash,
And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way;
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;
Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm,
And “Boys,” says he, “you don’t know me, and none of you care a damn;
But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I’ll bet my poke they’re true,
That one of you is a hound of hell. . .and that one is Dan McGrew.” (8)
Then I ducked my head, and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark,
And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark.
Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew,
While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that’s known as Lou. (9)
These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know.
They say that the stranger was crazed with “hooch,” and I’m not denying it’s so.
I’m not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two —
The woman that kissed him and — pinched his poke — was the lady that’s known as Lou. (10)
“The Shooting of Dan McGrew” is a narrative poem by British-Canadian writer Robert W. Service, first published in The Songs of a Sourdough in 1907 in Canada. Along with “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, this poem was arguably his best known. It was the basis of a 1998 novel, The Man from the Creeks, by Robert Kroetsch, a longtime admirer of Service’s works. It was also the inspiration for the 1949 song “Dangerous Dan McGrew” by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. The character of Dan McGrew was based on William Nelson McGrew (1883-1960), who was born and raised in Guinda, California to Isaac and Nellie Ophelia (Thomas) McGrew and whose nickname was “Dangerous Dan”. William McGrew had gone to the Yukon seeking his fortune during the Yukon Gold Rush. William McGrew and Robert Service were mutually antagonistic toward each other, and after one argument Robert Service is reputed to have said: “McGrew, some day I’ll kill you.” Service achieved his goal by killing Dan McGrew in this poem. The poem’s unique history as a spoken word piece was highlighted when US President Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney did their own alternating recital of the poem both in private meetings and in public. Once, Pierre Trudeau challenged Reagan to recite “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.” They were at a state dinner — Buckingham Palace — where Reagan sat between the Queen Mother and Trudeau. Reagan accepted the challenge and recited the poem, all 112 lines. Andy Ferguson writes of this — entertainingly — in his piece.
The tale takes place in a Yukon saloon during the Yukon Gold Rush of the late 1890s. It tells of three characters: Dan McGrew, a rough-neck prospector ( Someone who explores the area for mineral deposits; McGrew’s sweetheart “Lou”, a formidable pioneer woman; and a mysterious, weather-worn stranger who wanders into the saloon where the former are among a crowd of drinkers. The stranger buys drinks for the crowd, and then proceeds to the piano, where he plays a song that is alternately robust and then plaintively ( Sorrowful last note of a song ) sad. He appears to have had a past with both McGrew and Lou, and has come to settle a grudge. Gunshots break out, with both McGrew and the stranger killing each other, while “the Lady that’s known as Lou” ends up with the stranger’s “poke of gold.” ( Carrier bag of gold) : : : :
(1). In the malamute saloon ( su’loon ) , that is a ‘Bar’ with the name : “malamute” : in the name of a team of Alaskan 🐶 dog doing sledge pulling , the scene describes the presence of a gang of boys shouting in joy with enthusiasm ; in the milieu of an English rock music tune run in to by a kid handling music box and a man known as a dangerous “Dan McGrew”from the back of the bar is watching his card game of luck in the company of Lady Lou who is his ‘light of love’ ( spelled as “light-o-love”( lt-tu’-luv by the poet) : meaning she is a woman inconstant in love. ( Lines 1 To 4 ) : : : :
(2). The narrator tells the story what happened in the malamute saloon that night. Amidst the “din” ( harsh noise ) in the spotlight , A dog dirty , drunk miner – fresh from the creek ( with moist body ) looking like a strengthless and almost dead appeared in the saloon walking unsteadily. He stired the dust on bar poking ( by hitting on bar ) tiltedly. ( in slanted posture ) Although looking nasty , half- crazy and offensive , he called for drinks free to house on his cost. Everybody drank to his health and tried to locate his face , but they didn’t have any clue to identify him. Dangerous Dan McGrew was the last person to finish the drink. ( Lines 5 To 10 ):
(3). Now, the narrator started to describe this stranger’s eyes , face , and looks wandering what he would do in his moves. His face was full of hairs , and with dreary ( dull dismal and uncheerful ) stare of a dog , whose day is done ( finished/ depleted/ as if nothing left ) The narrator was spellbound with eyes gripped by the stranger and trying to work out understanding who he was , while he was pouring his green stuff in his glass and the drops fell one by one. And there , he found that Lady Lou was keenly watching the stranger. ( Lines 11 To 16 ) : :
(4). The stranger’s eyes were rubbering round the room , meaning he grasped every details in the room ; and he seemed in a kind of daze , that is some confusion under some stress till he faced an old piano in the way of his wondering gaze. ( stare ) “ragtime kid” refers to the melodious music of the piano’s rhythm with which the kid was floating the music in the air. Since the kid taking a drink was not replaced by anybody else , his stool was unoccupied.So the stranger walked unsteadily ( “stumbled” ) across the room and throws himself down there like a fool. His yellowish dun / brownish coloured : buckskin ( deerskin ) shirt glazed / coated with dirt , he sat on a piano stool and the narrator “saw him sway” , that is moving back and forth and sideways; “then he clutched the keys with his talon hands” and to the narrator’s surprise ,” he could play.” 🎹 : The “talon hands” is a simile for hands looking like crooked , hooked/ downward curve of an 🦅 eagle’s beak. ( Lines 17 To 22 ) : : : :
(5) .. (10) : : pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem. .. . August 24 , 2022 : : V Jayaraj Pune India: : : :
MADHU MALTI 