Release Date: 3/1/1974

St. Elmo's Fire
Shaggy Dog Studio - Stockbridge, MA
Adapted from traditional by Peter Zjhailo and M. Dean Steiding
With additional material by M. Dean Steiding
Peter Zjhailo: Violin
Dean: banjo
M.G. Clemens: Tambourine
Pat Rock: Bass

Peter found the main theme of this fiddle tune in one of those "2000 Fiddle Tunes" type books back in 1973. I started to compose a banjo accompaniment and came up with the middle section as a bridge. Together, we decided to call the finished piece "The Whaler’s Song," because it reminded us of the music we would have heard around whaling ports had we ever been in such places :^)

I have a vivid memory of recording this. It was live in the studio. We all stood in a circle - Michael to my left, Pat to my right, and Peter across, with mics in the center. I'm pretty sure we only did one take, and it's a dandy.