BANKS OF SACRAMENTO
(Capstan Shanty)

In the Black Ball Line I served my time-
With a hoodah and a doodah!
In the Black Ball Line I served my time-
Hoodah, hoodah day!
Blow, bo-oys, blow,
For Californi-o!
There's plenty of gold, so I've been told,
On the banks of Sacramento!

We were the boys to make her go-
With a hoodah and a doodah!
Around Cape Stiff in frost and snow-
Hoodah, hoodah day!
Blow, bo-oys, blow,
For Californi-o!
There's plenty of gold, so I've been told,
On the banks of Sacramento!

Around Cape Stiff in seventy days-
With a hoodah and a doodah!
Around Cape Stiff is a very long way
Hoodah, hoodah day!
Blow, bo-oys, blow,
For Californi-o!
There's plenty of gold, so I've been told,
On the banks of Sacramento!

Tune- "Camptown Races," S. C. Foster.

Some, including CFS, have confused the song with "Ho for California!," 1851, by J. Hutchinson, and thus suggested that it might have antedated the Foster song. See thread 14644, esp. discussion by richr: Hoodah . In that thread, Leslie Nielson gives the lyrics for a version from "Fifty Sailors' Songs or Chanties," Boosey, c. 1870; it reminds one of "Amsterdam." CFS remarks that the words, apart from the chorus, "vary considerably....The chorus is the thing."

The first schooner, with a cargo of iron and steel, sailed up river into Sacramento, 84 miles northeast of San Francisco, in 1859. The port qualified as a terminal in 1934, and achieved full status in 1963 after many millions had been spent deepening the river and building docking facilities. The first ship in was a Chinese freighter. Outgoing cargos are mainly rice, wheat, lumber, rock and fertilizer.

X:3
T:The Banks of Sacramento
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 24
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:C
z6G G|G2 G2 E2 G2|A2 G2 E2 C D|E2 D4C D|
w:In the Black Ball Line I served my time with a hoo-dah and a
E2 D4G G|G2 G2 E2 G2|A2 G2 E4|E2 D2 E2 D2|
w:doo-dah! In the Black Ball Line I served my time Hoo-dah, hoo-dah
D6-D2|C4E2 G2|c6B2|A3 B c3 A|G6G2|
w:day!_Blow bo-oys blow For Cal-i-for-ni-o, there's
A2 A A A2 G2|A2 G2 E2 C D|E3 F E3 D|D2 C6z2
w:plen-ty of gold, so I've been told,On the banks of Sa-cra-men-to!

---

Click to play