California as It Is and Was.
[AIR—I remember.]

I remember, I remember, when once I used to mine,
My cabin still is standing beneath a sugar-pine;
From daylight in the morning, till the sun went out of sight,
Alone I used to dig for gold, and mend my clothes at night.
Alone I used to dig for gold, and mend my clothes at night.

I remember, I remember, when grub was very high,
We had to live on pork and beans, 'twas little pork indeed,
And miners were very poor, could not afford to buy;
With enough to grease the frying-pan, we thought we'd struck a lead.
With enough to grease the frying-pan, we thought we'd struck a lead.

I remember, I remember, when we flumed American river.
The floods came down, swept off our dam, and all hands d––d together;
We lost our time and mining tools, and everything we had,
Instead of leaving a pile we were left without a scad.
Instead of leaving a pile we were left without a scad.

I remember, I remember, when the Yuba used to pay,
With nothing but a rocker, five hundred dollars a day;
We used to think 't would always last, and would with perfect ease,
If Uncle Sam had only stopped the coming of Chinese.
If Uncle Sam had only stopped the coming of Chinese.

I remember, I remember, we're compelled to pay a tax,
Which people say is gambled off—I wonder if those are facts?
And certain ones are trying to give our mineral lands away,
To build a railroad from the States, to San Francisco Bay.
To build a railroad from the States, to San Francisco Bay.

I remember, I remember, when we hadn't any laws,
We then could live in peace among the diggers and their squaws;
But now it's Whigs and Democrats, and Know Nothings of late,
All fighting after office, with a chance to rob the State.
All fighting after office with a chance to rob the State.

I remember, I remember, when Captain Lynch was boss,
We had no use for prison brigs, we hadn't that, old hoss;
But now it's thieves on every side, political thieves in flocks,
All promised office if they wait till Frank Pierce buys more rocks.


Put's Original California Songster, pp. 16-17

Lyrics and tune in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp. 185-186

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[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
Most of the "I Remember" poems appear to be derivations or parodies of Thomas Hood's poem "I Remember, I Remember" (by 1827), which was set to rather arty music in 1828 by Christopher Meinecke--other early settings also exist. But Stone's text seems patterned instead on a couple of early parodies beginning "I remember, I remember, when I was once a boy." And I suspect it was a simpler setting than Meinecke's that ended up being sung to various parodies. Nevertheless, his setting has the virtue of being among the first and of repeating the fourth line in the manner echoed by Stone's poem (not a feature of Hood's original). Meinecke's setting may be heard at pdmusic.org:

Click to play

The Lester S. Levy Collection has a couple partial copies of early settings, including Meinecke's. It also has a setting composed by Mrs. Elizabeth Fitzgerald of an entirely different poem by Winthrop Praed titled "I Remember How My Childhood Fleeted" (published in Praed's collected works in 1844). Oddly, Lingenfelter and Dwyer used this tune for Stone's text in The Songs of the Gold Rush (p. 185). Granted, Fitzgerald's setting is more regular and singable by the average moke, and would also have been more recent than the settings of Hood's poem, but it also has an extra melodic strain (albeit a repetition of the previous), and the text pattern reprises the first two lines instead of the last one (as in Stone). I doubt this would have been the tune Stone had in mind.

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