67 - Sacramento (D)

This song was sung as a capstan anchor shanty, especially when raising the "mud-hook".
This is the "Camptown Races" version.
"Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill (1st ed: p 110, 111).



Sacramento D

Camptown ladies sing this song,
   - Hoo-dah! Hoo-dah!
Camptown race-track's five miles long.
   - Hoo-dah! Hoo-dah day!

   - Blow, boys, blow!
   - For Californ-eye-O!
   - There's plenty o' gold so I've bin told,
   - On the banks o' the Sacramento

          *2*
Go down dar wid me hat caved in,
Come back home with me pockets full o' tin.

          *3*
De long-tailed filly an' de big black hoss,
Dey fly de track an' dey both cut ac ross.

          *4*
De blind hoss stickin' in a big mud hole,
Can't touch bottom wid a ten-foot pole.

          *5*
Ol' muley cow come out on de track,
De bob he fling her ober his back.

          *6*
Den fly along like a raiload car,
Runnin' a race wid a shootin' star.

          *7*
De sorrel hoss he's got a cough,
An' his rider's drunk in de ol' hay-loft.

          *8*
Dere's fourteen hosses in dis race,
Ah'm snug in de saddle an' got a good brace.

          *9*
De bobtail hoss she cain't be beat,
Runnin' around in a two-mile heat.

          *10*
Ah put me money on de bob-tail nag,
Somebody bet on de one-eyed lag.

          *11*
I win me money on de bobtail nag,
An' carry it home in de ol' tow-bag.