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California gold rush lyrics6/30/2023 ![]() While individual gold rush songs appeared in both eastern and western newspapers, the majority of California gold rush song lyrics came from the pen of a few key individuals. For young men who hoped to pick up gold off the ground and get rich, the phrase summed up the contrast between dreams and reality during emigration and then in far-flung diggings. Ignoring this advice, young men used the phrase “seeing the elephant” when emigrating from the East by land and sea as well as throughout the 1850s in California. Oh! I’ve been to California and I’m minus all the goldįor instead of riches plenty I have only got a coldĪnd I think in going mining I was regularly sold This digging hard for gold may be politic and boldīut you could not make me think so but you may if you are told ![]() I’d use the two of them ‘ere things to scoop me out a grave I’ve only got a spade and pick and if I felt quite brave I’ve lost my health, my strength, my hope, and I have lost my time I’ve been to California and I haven’t got a dime “If you go, why you will see, the elephant, yes sirree, and some little grains of gold that are no bigger than a flea…” A parody of “Jeannette and Jeannot”, the song “California As It Is” warned young men that the promise of riches in California was false. And, in American culture, gold rush song tended to be limited to the world of the miner while city dwellers often played or listened to the popular music of the day.Īll gold rush song and, in fact, all gold rush mining culture evolved in the shadow of the phrase, “to see the elephant.” This phrase had been popularized in a gold rush song lyric written by Thaddeus Meighan for a play, Gold Mania, put on by P.T. Americans in gold rush California were not the only people with music–all other cultures had music as well. These found their appeal among miners by commenting on unruly society, rough characters, and hardship. The optimism of “Oh, California” contrasts gold rush songs written in California. The sun's so hot I froze to death, oh brothers don't you cry It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry I'm going to California, the gold dust for to see I come from Salem City with my washbowl on my knee The lyric enjoyed brief popularity in Sacramento upon their arrival in 1849. John Nichols wrote “Oh California” as a parody of the 1848 minstrel show hit, “ Oh! Susanna.” He sang it with two friends to waving townspeople from the deck of the bark Eliza as they set sail from Salem, Massachusetts. ![]() Some of these songs, like “Oh, California”, were written by emigrants as they left the East and are full of excitement at the expectation of finding gold and getting rich. ![]() From 1849 through the 1850s, the California gold rush inspired songs that told stories and made commentary. ![]()
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