The Frozen Logger

"The Frozen Logger" (Roud 5470) is an American folk song, written by James Stevens.^[1] It is a tall tale song which makes reference to a logger being identifiable by the habit of stirring coffee with his thumb.^[2]

"The Frozen Logger"
Song
Written	1928
Published	1949
Genre	American folk
Songwriter(s)	James Stevens

Renditions

The song has been recorded and/or performed by several musicians:^[3]

• The Weavers 1951
• Odetta & Larry The Tin Angel 1954
• Cisco Houston Hard Travellin 1954
• Homer and Jethro "Barefoot Ballads" 1957
• Jimmie Rodgers 1960
• Odetta At the Town Hall 1963
• Rolf Harris Man With The Microphone 1966
• Alex Campbell Way Out west 1967
• Johnny Cash "Country & Western Classics" 1982
• The Wakami Wailers River Through the Pines 1999
• Oscar Brand

The first verse or the first two verses were sometimes played as a snippet during instrument tuning breaks by the Grateful Dead in concert, mainly in 1970. It was usually sung by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh.^[4]

Cinema

An animated version is available as The Frozen Logger 1963 directed by Gene Deitch

Published

• Bunk Shanty Ballads and Tales, James Stevens, Oregon Historical Quarterly, volume 50, number 4. December 1949.
• Rise Up Singing 1988 page 137
• Lyrics at Folk Song Collector^[5]

Parody

The Frozen Jogger.^[6]