From
Pearl Jam's
Given to Fly single,
leatherman.
I heard about a man to whom I may be related.
He's leatherman.
Died a long time ago in the 1880's. Leatherman. Leatherman.
Covered with leather but it wasn't tight.
Underneath a moon in the woods at night.
Making the rounds ten miles a day.
Once a month they'd spot him and here's what they'd say.
"Here he comes. He's a man of the land. He's leatherman.
Smile on his face. Axe in his pack.
He's leatherman. Leatherman. Leatherman."
Comes out of the caves once a day to be fed.
He wasn't known to stay much but, "Thanks for the bread."
So, modern day I walk my way with my jacket faded
just like a man of leather whom I may be related.
Rolled cigarette for which he'd ask for a light.
Appear to be an animal. Yet, so polite.
Making the rounds ten miles a day.
Once a month they'd spot him and here's what they'd say
"Here he comes he's a man of the land. He's leatherman
Smile on his face. Axe in his hand.
He's leatherman. Leatherman. Leatherman."
Leatherman. Leatherman.
Shake his hand. He's leatherman. Bake some bread.
He's leatherman.
Shame he's dead. I saw his bed.
It's all that's left of leatherman. Leatherman.
Give me some skin Leatherman.
The Leather Man of this song is a prominent figure in the
legends and
folklore of
New England. According to this story,
Jules Bourglay had been apprenticed as a leatherworker in
Lyons,
France. When he completed his apprenticeship, he would then be of high enough class to marry the daughter of the leather craftsman under whom he was employed.
However, the business failed, and faced with financial devastation and the
loss of his lover, he
exiled himself to the wilds of early 19th century America. Here, he
wandered the villages, about ten miles a day. His total circuit from town to town was 365 miles and he walked it in little more than a month. He wore no travel clothes, just a thick coat of leather patches.
In each town he would beg for food and work, sleeping in barns and fields, or if it was winter, a dry cave. He would become a fixture in the communities he traveled. Housewives would claim they could set their clocks by the silent wanderer.
He would
survive the harsh New England winters by building a strong hot fire in his cave (the wood had been drying in the cave since he last stayed there). When the coals and flame had warmed the rock he would sweep them away and sleep in this giant oven made by the fire-warmed rock.
No one ever knew why the Leather Man walked. Some said it was simply his poverty, others that it was a self-imposed
atonement for what had happened in France. The
blizzard of 1888 proved to much even for this man of leather and he passed away to become this permanently etched story in the collective
memories of much of New England.
and so modern day I walk my own way
my jacket faded just like the man of leather
whom I may be related
He's leatherman.