I have a new album out! Here are some details about the song "California" the Seventh track from the new release Trade Songs: American West.
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Put’s Golden Songster was a popular and famous book of songs from the California Gold Rush of 1849. James Polk had mentioned the discovery of gold in his State of the Union Address on December 5th, 1848. The next spring, thousands of entrepreneurial Americans made their way west overland, or by sea to the western coast of the United States to the area around Sacramento to strike it rich. It represented the American spirit, the grit and determination of its people. Those people came from all walks of life, all different heritages and cultures, and brought their music with them.
Many of these old books of lyrics are just new words to familiar tunes. It was popular for folks to write a poem and then apply a familiar melody to it. Or maybe they knew a song and started to write new words specifically for the song. Put’s Golden Songster does this. The first song in the book is about a steamship wreck (which was quite common) titled “Loss of the ‘Central America’” and just below it is written “Air-Carry Me Back to old Virginny”. Folks who owned the book could sing the new words to a familiar tune. Sometimes the new lyrics would make for a more popular or famous song. “John Brown’s Body” was a famous song before it became "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
Some of these lyrics didn’t have a melody suggestion and people would just make up their own tunes to fit with the words. Consequently, there are often different traditional melodies to songs that have become American standards, and Thesis or dissertations (and arguments) about which versions are oldest, or most original.
This song probably came from folks who sailed to the west coast. Though we often think about the overland travelers headed to San Francisco, but many more people took ships. It was a dangerous ship voyage that required sailing around Cape Horn, known for it's gnarly seas. Dozens of ships sank on the voyage, but it was often a more favorable way to travel than lumbering across the dusty west.
This song has a kind of "sea shanty" structure. It's easy to imagine a group of sailors singing it as they hauled ropes all together. It appears in Carl Sandburg's book The American Songbag.
California - Lyrics
When we formed our band we were all well manned
To journey afar to the promised land
The golden ore is rich in store
On the banks of the Sacramento shore
Chorus
Go, boys, go
To California go
There's plenty of gold in the world, I'm told
On the banks of the Sacramento shore
As oft we roam o'er the dark sea's foam
We'll not forget kind friends at home
But memory kind still brings to mind
The love of friends we left behind
Chorus
We'll expect our share of the coarsest fare
And sometimes sleep in the open air
On the cold damp ground we'll all sleep sound
Except when the wolves go howling 'round
Chorus
As we explore to the distant shore
Filling our pockets with the shining ore
How it will sound as the shout goes 'round
Filling our pockets with a dozen pounds
The gold is there almost anywhere
We dig it out rich with an iron bar
But where it is thick, with spade or pick
We take out chunks as big as a brick
Chorus