Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento

Subject: Lyr Add: HOODAH DAY SHANTY
From: Lesley N.
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 09:32 PM

I came across this in 50 Sailors' Songs or Chanties (Boosey circa 1870). The book has no notes at all though it is included in the "anchor songs" (so I'm assuming it's a capstan shanty). I can't find any information on it in Hugill, Shay, Sam Henry, Creighton or Huntington. Perhaps it is known by another name? Can anyone tell me something of this?

All I have is the lyrics at the moment. I'll include the tune as soon as I finish it...

HOODAH DAY SHANTY

As I was walking down the street,
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
A charming girl I chanced to meet,
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

The girl was sweet and fair to view.
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
Her hair so brown, her eyes so blue.
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

I said, 'Fair maiden, how d'ye do?
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
'Quite well, sir, no thanks to you!'
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

I asked then if she'd take a trip
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
A-down the docks to see a ship
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

'No thank you sir, I will not go,
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
I thank you, but must answer 'no!
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

'My love is young, my love is true;
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
I would not leave my love for you
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

So, quickly then I strode away,
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
I'd not another word to say.
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

Sing and heave, and heave and sing,
Hoodah, to my hoodah,
Heave and make the handspikes spring,
Hoodah, hoodah day,
Blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For California O,
There's plenty of gold, so I'm told.
On the banks of Sacramento.

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty?
From: Lesley N.
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 10:11 PM

Gee - I should have done the music first. This is a dead ringer for Camptown Races... Camptown Races was Stephen Foster... Darn - here I thought I'd found a hidden treasure...

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 10:39 PM

There are 2 versions in the DT, enter into the search box Sacramento & that'll get them for you. Therre are 4 versions in Hugill's "Shanties From the Seven Seas". Doerflinger has 3 versions in his "Shantymen & Shantyboys" & it seems he has a close version placed onboard a ship a year before Foster (acc. to him 1850) wrote Camptown Races.Hunington also has a close version (same as Doerflinger's) The California Song from the log of the LaGrange 1849. Here's that chorus:

"Then ho bo boys ho to California go
For the mountains bold are covered with gold
On the banks of the Sacramento
Heigh ho away we go
Digging up gold in Frisco

Shay does have a version, it might be that you're looking for this using a different name & not having much luck. A few real nice recordings of this are done by Holstock & McLoed on their shanties of the goldrush & the Mystic Seaport Shantymen on their American Sea Chanteys (complete with them working & sounds of the capstan).
Barry

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty?
From: Lesley N.
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 11:11 PM

Shows what a name will do! I searched for hoodah, as I walked, and I searched for [banks of Sacramento] in the database - I should have known to cut it down when that didn't turn up anything!

Sure enough if I use Sacremento I have all sorts of neat stuff! How interesting that it is possibly on board ship earlier than Foster. Hugill has an interesting discussion of the controversy. So even though it's one of my least favorite songs I'll probably put it on my pages!

I even have the Mystic Shantymen tape (which I think is a real treasure - their tape made me realize working shanties weren't sung like the folksongs I know!)

Thanks as always!

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty?
From: rich r
Date: 24 Oct 99 - 12:07 AM

I think some of the murkiness surrounding the origins of the "Hoodah" song comes from the fact that there are three distinct songs that converge in time and subject matter. The apparent first of these is "Ho! For California" written by Jesse Hutchinson of the popular Hutchinson Familay Singers. The sheet music for this was published in early 1849. The song was purportedly written for and performed as a send-off for a group of Massachusetts fortune hunters who were headed by land to the gold fields of California. The Hutchinson's were active in the abolitionist movement and the last verse and chorus managed to bring in their anti-slavery sentiments:

"O the land we'll save for the bold and brave
Have determined there never shall breathe a slave
Let foes recoil, for the sons of toil
Shall make California God's Free Soil.
Then, ho! boys ho!
To California go,
No slave shall toil on God's free soil
On the banks of the Sacramento.
Heigh ho! and away we go,
Chanting our songs of Freedom O.
Heigh ho! and away we go,
Chanting our songs of Freedom O."

Hutchinson, incidentally borrowed melody elements from Dan Emmet's "Boatman Dance" song.

My reading of Doerflinger is that the song that was sung on the ship LaGrange as it sailed for California also in 1849 was the Hutchinson song and not the "Hoodah" song.

The second song is Foster's "Camptown Races". This song was first published in February 1850 by F D Benteen of Baltimore under the title "Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races". The second part of the title stuck with the song and the second edition was called "The celebrated Ethiopian Song/Camptown Races" Foster wrote the song for the minstrel stage with a solo/chorus etc framework. He pursuaded Ed Christy's Minstrels to feature the song. It was hugely popular but not much of a money maker for Foster. In sever years it sold only about 5000 copies and Foster netted only a little over $100 before he sold all rights to it in 1857. It was probably too easy to remember and sing, so people didn't need the music. Richard Jackson in "Popular Songs of Nineteenth Century America" says the song was likely written in 1849 when Foster was in Cincinnati.

The third song is the "Hoodah" song more commonly known as "Banks of Sacramento". This song seems to be rather clearly a composite of the two previous songs. The melody is "Camptown Races" and so is the pattern of the verses; line/ Hoodah (Doo Dah) etc. The chorus lyrics are derived from the Hutchinson song. Specific verses and story lines were either created or brought in from other sea songs. Doerflinger supports this view "Tune and short refrains of Foster's son are combined in the shanty with the chorus of one introduced by the Hutchinson Family..." Irwin Silber in "Songs of The Great American West" includes both the Hutchinson song and the shanty and says basically the same thing.

One added element is that many of the versions of "Sacramento" make reference to trips around the Horn in 90 days (Lingenfelter, Hugill, Silber, Silverman). That timing was not achieved until after the famous American clipper ships began regular service on that route in 1851. Those sets of lyrics must be 1851 or later, i.e after both the Hutchinson and Foster songs gained pouplarity.

rich r

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty?
From: Lesley N.
Date: 24 Oct 99 - 09:02 AM

What a fantastic summary rich - thanks. Interesting stuff indeed. I ran briefly into the Hutchinson Family when I was looking for information on Walter Kitteridge (he evidently sang with them for a time) - and have been interested in learning more.

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jan 03 - 08:52 PM

Nice work!

Subject: RE: INFO on Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 01:20 PM

I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California, an area fabled in story and song. I keep looking for songs that tell the story of my home, but I've found very few that really interest me. John A. Stone ("Old Put") published his popular songsters in the 1850's, but very few of Stone's songs give me satisfaction. I suppose the three Gold Rush songs I've known all my life are "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (Stone), "Clementine" (but is it really from the Gold Rush?), and "Banks of the Sacramento," which is more a sea shanty than a mining song.

Here's what the Traditional Ballad Index has to say about "Banks of the Sacramento":

Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento)

DESCRIPTION: The "plot" of the song varies widely, according to its use by pioneers, sailors, or gold-diggers. The chorus is fixed: "(Then) Ho! (boys), Ho! To California go! There's plenty of gold in the world, we're told, on the banks of the Sacramento"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (Journal of William F. Morgan of the La Grange)
KEYWORDS: gold shanty travel
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1849 - California gold rush
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Australia Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Eddy 125, "California" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 70, "Ho, Boys, Ho" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doerflinger, pp. 68-70, "Sacramento" (3 texts, 2 tunes, though the last of these derives its verses from "Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid)")
Colcord, pp. 105-106, "Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 39-40, "Banks of Sacramento" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 109-110, "Banks of Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 106-114, "California," "Sacramento" (7 texts-1 in German, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 95-100]
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 82-83, "The Banks of Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 110-111, "California"; 111, "The Banks of Sacramento" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Smith/Hatt, p. 37, "On the Banks of the Sacramento" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 42, "Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 91, "Banks of the Sacramento" (1 fragmentary text, in which the singer seeks girls rather than gold; 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 174-176, "The California Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AFS2, pp. 655-656, "Ho! For California!" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 88, "Sacramento" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 158-159, "(De) Camptown Races--(Sacramento)"
DT, SACRMNTO* SACRMNT2*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Sacramento" is in Part 2, 7/21/1917.
Roud #309
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Sacramento" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (tune)
cf. "A Capital Ship" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Californi-O
Blow, Boys, Blow for Californi-O
Der Hamborger Veermaster
Der Hamborger Vullrigger
NOTES: Possibly created and certainly popularized by the Hutchinson Family (who published a text in their 1855 songbook), versions of this song are found throughout the U.S., and are well-known among sailors.
The texts are diverse (Hugill, for instance, has a version in which a sailor courts a girl and winds up with a venereal disease), but most seem to be related to the California gold rush. The tune is a variation on "Camptown Races," perhaps in turn based on "A Capital Ship." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.7
File: E125

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Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 03:12 PM

Joe, couldn't find the original "Ho! For California!" in mudcat, so I put it in a new thread.

I wonder if some sorting should be done to separate chantey versions from miner and popular music revisions. I haven't looked through the threads fully.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: GUEST,Greg
Date: 06 Feb 10 - 11:03 AM

Watch/listen to the movie "How the West Was Won". during the intermission - one of the many songs.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: GUEST,Andrew
Date: 05 May 11 - 06:06 AM

Here's a funny thing - this song also has German verses and is a very popular song in Germany. The chorus remains in English. It's known as the Hamborger Veermaster and appears to be taught in Schools etc.

The text with translation is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamborger_Veermaster#Text

Subject: ADD: Hamborger Veermaster (Banks of the Sacramento
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 May 11 - 04:15 PM

Here are the lyrics for the German version. I wonder what dialect it is - Hamburgerdeutsch?? I like those double umlauts that low German uses, like üü.

HAMBORGER VEERMASTER

Ick heff mol een Hamborger Veermaster sehn,
To my hooday!
De Masten so scheep as den Schipper sien Been,
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho - ho - ho - ho!

Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
There's plenty of gold, so I am told,
On the banks of Sacramento.

Dat Deck weer vull Isen, vull Dreck un vull Smeer.
"Rein Schipp" weer den Oll'n sin scheunstes Pläseer.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho - ho - ho - ho!

Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
There's plenty of gold, so I am told,
On the banks of Sacramento.

De Kombüs weer vull Lüüs, de Kajüt weer vull Schiet,
To my hooday!
De Beschüten, de leupen von sülvens all wiet.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho - ho - ho - ho!

Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
There's plenty of gold, so I am told,
On the banks of Sacramento.

Dat Soltfleesch weer greun, un de Speck wör vull Modn.
To my hooday!
Un Köm geef dat blots an Wiehnachtsobend.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho - ho - ho - ho!

Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
There's plenty of gold, so I am told,
On the banks of Sacramento.

Un wulln wi mol seiln, ick sech ji dat nur,
To my hooday!
Denn lööp he dree vorut un veer wedder retur.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho - ho - ho - ho!

Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
There's plenty of gold, so I am told,
On the banks of Sacramento.

Un as dat Schipp, so weer ok de Kaptein,
To my hooday!
De Lüüd för dat Schipp, de weern ok blots schangheit.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho - ho - ho - ho!

Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
There's plenty of gold, so I am told,
On the banks of Sacramento.


Source: http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1811004/Achim-Reichel-Hamborger-Veermaster-Lyrics
...one of those lyrics sites, where you can't trust the accuracy of the lyrics transcription.

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Here's a transcription that's likely to be more accurate:

HAMBORGER VEERMASTER

Ick hebb mol een Hamborger Veermaster sehn,
- to my hooday! -
de Masten so scheep as den Schipper sien Been,
- to my hooday, hooday, ho, ho-ho-ho! -


Refrain:
Blow, boys, blow, for Californi-o,
there's plenty of gold, so I am told,
on the banks of Sacramento.

Dat Deck weer vull Isen, vull Dreck un vull Smeer,
- to my hooday! -
„Rein Schipp" weer den Oll’n sin scheunstes Pläseer,
(„Rein Schipp" weur den Käpten sin grötste Pläseer,)
- to my hooday, hooday, ho, ho-ho-ho! -

De Kombüs weer vull Lüüs, de Kajüt weer vull Schiet,
(Dat Logis wör vull Wanzen, de Kombüs wör vull Dreck,)
- to my hooday! -
de Beschüten, de leupen von sülvens all wiet,
(de Beschüten, de lööpen von sülben all weg,)
- to my hooday, hooday, ho, ho-ho-ho! -

Dat Soltfleesch weer greun, un de Speck weer vull Modn,
(Dat Soltfleesch wör greun, un de Speck wör vull Moden,)
- to my hooday! -
un Köm gääf dat blots an Wiehnachtsobend,
- to my hooday, hooday, ho, ho-ho-ho! -

Un wulln wi mol seiln, ick sech ji dat nur,
(Un wulln wi mol seiln, ick segg dat jo nuur,)
- to my hooday! -
denn löp he dree vorut un veer wedder retur,
- to my hooday, hooday, ho, ho-ho-ho! -

Un as dat Schipp, so weer ok de Kaptein,
- to my hooday! -
de Lüüd för dat Schipp, de weern ok blots schangheit,
- to my hooday, hooday, ho, ho-ho-ho! -


(um 1850 oder 1885)

Bernhard Lipinski, Braakmaand 2009

Soruce: http://www.deutsch-plattdeutsch.de (Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch)

Subject: Lyr Add: BANKS OF SACRAMENTO
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 09:32 PM

Some diferent lines:

BANKS OF SACRAMENTO

Oh, New York's race course is nine miles long.
To me, hoodah ! To me, hoodah !
Oh, New York's race course is nine miles long.
To me, hoodah ! To me, hoodah day !

Then it's blow, my bully boys, blow,
for Californ-i-o,
There's plenty of gold so I've been told
on the banks of Sacramento.

A bully ship and a bully crew,
A bully mate and a skipper too.

Oh, New Yok's race track, where we stood,
We bet on all they said was good.

Our watch, our shoes and every rag,
But lost our money on a bob-tail nag.

Our money all gone we shipped to go
Around Cape Horn, where strong winds blow.

We're bound for Californ-i-o;
For gold and banks of Sacramento.

"In order to make the chantey last throughout the hoist, the chanteyman usually repeated each line of the verse."

Frederick Pease Harlow, 1928, The Making of a Sailor, Dover reprint of Publication 17 of the Marine Research Society, Salem, MA.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 May 13 - 09:51 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTA4h99eLBQ

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 May 13 - 01:44 AM

Clicky for Good Soldier Shweik's link above. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTA4h99eLBQ

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 May 13 - 01:28 PM

I recall Eric Eilott, an old sailor himself singing the "fixed chorus" as:

There's plenty of grass to wipe your ass
On the banks of the Sacramento.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: Lighter
Date: 05 May 13 - 04:16 PM

I heard Stan Hugill sing it that way too.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: GUEST,z
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 12:38 AM

I've heard it sung:
There's plenty of brass to wipe your ass
On the banks of the Sacramento.

and with different verses. Which I'm looking for.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: r.padgett
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 03:01 AM

Brilliant!!

Ray

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 11:55 AM

Albert J. Porter, "Drift from the Seven Seas," San Francisco Chronicle (June 18, 1911), p. 29:

"One of the most favorite of the windlass chanties was 'Blow for California.' It began:

We're bound for California I heard the old man say,
First chorus--To me hoodah, to me hoodah.
We're bound for California this very good day.
Second chorus--To me hoodah, hoodah day.
Blow, boys, blow for California,
There is planty of gold, so I've been told,
On the banks of the Sacramento."

The solo lines can be squashed to fit the tune.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hoodah Day Shanty/Banks of the Sacramento
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jun 20 - 06:58 AM

"I asked her if she'd take a trip,
A-down the DOCKS to see a ship "

Those opening lines of the Shanty, from the original post by LESLEY N. indicate that there are/were Docks in Sacramento. Can somebody say what kind of Docks are being referred to, were they really for loading and unloading ships or just lighters ?