Reputedly the best-selling poetry collection of the 20th century, 'Songs of a Sourdough' is best known for Robert W. Service's classic Yukon ballads, 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew' and 'The Cremation of Sam McGhee'. Service was born in Preston, Lancashire, and grew up in Scotland. In his twenties, he made his way to Canada and settled in the Yukon where he worked as a bank clerk but evidently dreamed of more adventurous pursuits. Service's readings of his poems show that he could adopt either a Scottish or North American accent. Here they are read in an accent that is not too far removed from the place of his birth. - Summary by Phil Benson
LibriVox recordings are public domain in the United States; copyright status may differ elsewhere.
Chapters
- Chapter 1
The Law of the Yukon; The Parson's Son; The Spell of the Yukon
14:22 - Chapter 2
The Call of the Wild; The Lone Trail; The Heart of the Sourdough; The Three Voices
09:30 - Chapter 3
The Pines; The Harpy; The Lure of Little Voices; The Song of the Wage Slave; Grin
12:28 - Chapter 4
The Shooting of Dan McGrew
05:24 - Chapter 5
The Cremation of Sam McGhee
05:27 - Chapter 6
My Madonna; Unforgotten; The Reckoning; Quatrains; The Men that Don't Fit in; Music in the Bush; The Rhyme of the Remittance Man
12:58 - Chapter 7
The Low Down White; The Little Old Log Cabin; The Younger Son; The March of the Dead; "Fighting Mac"; The Woman and the Angel
17:06 - Chapter 8
The Rhyme of the Restless Ones; New Years Eve; Comfort; Premonition; The Tramps; L'envoi
10:42