You Who Don't Believe It
[air: "Blue-tail Fly"]

There is no land upon the earth,
Contains the same amount of worth;
And he that could not here reside,
Had ought to freeze the other side!

CHORUS
You who don't believe it,
You who don't believe it,
You who don't believe it,
Come yourselves and see!

We've got more gold than all the world,
A flag that wins whene'er unfurled,
And smarter men to help us through,
Than England, France or Mexico.

CHORUS

We've smarter ships than Johnny Bull,
Larger sheep with finer wool;
A prison too! you cannot fail
To throw a Bull through by the tail.

CHORUS

We raise the largest cabbage heads,
Got more and better feather beds;
Of everything we've got the best,
An thieves until you cannot rest.

CHORUS

All ruffianism now is o'er,
The country's safer than before;
Our cities keep the rowdies straight,
Or send them through the Golden Gate.

CHORUS

We've got the highest mountains here,
Taller trees and faster deer,
And travel more, at higher rates,
Than people in the Eastern States.

CHORUS

We've got the smartest river boats,
And, ten to one, old whiskey bloats;
We're blest with very heavy fogs,
And any amount of poodle dogs!

CHORUS

We've got a few unmarried g'hals,
Railroads, ditches and canals;
Although we did repudiate,
A joke 'twas only to create.

CHORUS

To one and all, both young and old,
You're welcome to the land of gold;
So come along, be not afraid,
We guarantee you all well paid!

CHORUS

Put's Golden Songster, pages 11-12

Tune and lyrics in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, p. 24

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Click to play (pdmusic.org)

[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
"Jim Crack Corn, or The Blue-Tail Fly" is commonly credited to the minstrel Daniel Decatur Emmett, 1846, though it's also argued that he modified an existing black minstrel song.

Sheet music [PDF] in the Lester S. Levy Collection.
Digital Tradition: Blue-Tail Fly (with score and MIDI)
Digital Tradition: Jim Crack Corn
Mudcat thread: Origins: Blue-Tail Fly

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