The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #105127 Message #2239765
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
18-Jan-08 - 10:33 PM
Thread Name: Online Songbook:Put's Golden Songster (J.A. Stone)
Subject: ADD: California Bank Robbers (John A. Stone)
California Bank Robbers [Air: Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel]
1 The California people are determined if they find Another such a band of robbers As the banking firm of Adams, from beginning to the end, They will hang them as they have a lot of rowdies.
CHORUS So be careful all you rowdies and you rich banker thieves, Or the California people will hang you; So be careful all you rowdies and you rich banker thieves, Or the California people will hang you, I believe.
2 They agreed among themselves they could easy make a pile, By stealing all they had on deposit; They would do it by a failure, and be honest all the while- Then a million and a half- what of it?
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
3 The merchant rushed in, looking whiter than a sheet, The miner came tearing like a bull-dog; Poor old washerwomen crying in the street, And Johnny Bull croaking like a bull-frog.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
4 Women carried round on the shoulders of the crowd Really was a sight very funny; Legs all bare, though they didn't seem to care, They were bound to have a sight for their money.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
5 The blind man said to the bankers, "I'm so poor- Surely, man, you don't intend to rob me!" The Chinaman said, as they kicked him out the door, "Me no shabee, John, me no shabee!"
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
6 In came the shad-bellied Yankee, out of breath, And he says, "Old Feller, goll-darn ye!" Then along came Pike, saying, "I'll be the death Of you bank robbers, dog-on-ye!"
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
7 I. C. Woods sabed something very strange, So he vamosed, though he knew it wouldn't sound well. He hid among the hills in the Contra Costa range, With a bag of bogus dust- what a scoundrel!
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
8 Ladies in the jam now and then were heard to say, "Oh, Lordy-massy, how you squeeze us!" When a Jew got to the counter, he began without delay, "Vel, I vants my money, by Sheesus!"
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
9 Frenchmen they were squawking like a flock of hungrey geese; Vainly did they parley-voo-de-ding-dong. Sauer-Kraut was looking for a Justice of the Peace, To send all the Yankee thieves to Hong Kong.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
10 Adams he declared that his name was just a sale, To give "The House" a wholesome reputation; I. C. Woods says they both agreed to fail, And swindle all o' God's creation.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
11 The bank robber Woods had to hunt another hole, For many were determined they would kill him; Aoo he gathered up the money he maliciously had stole, And away went the black-hearted villain.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
12 Their "Receiver" is a thief- you can see it by his looks, And the Lord knows what he wouldn't swear to; After fobbing all the money, why he then stole the books, And a thousand other things that would scare you.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
13 They were thrown into the bay 'bout the middle of the night, By the long-eared, fish-faced Cohen; And the moment they were found he was quickly out of sight, For he thought it was time to be goin'.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
14 Page & Bacon, after Adams thought they'd make a strike, Concluded in a hurry they would try it, Pocket what they could, go a-kiting back to Pike- Now I wonder if they ever will deny it.
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
15 Like a great many others, they were taken by surprise, When they came to overhaul their plunder; Instead of half a million they were sure to realize, They hadn't stole a dollar, by thunder!
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
16 They were bound to make a raise, so they started in again, And carried on a wholesale thieving, Robbed the orphan, the widow, the farmer of his grain, And were taken with- a very sudden leaving!
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
17 If the English and the French cannot take Sebastopol, They had better let the job to the Yankees; Uncle Sam will do it cheap, unless he is a fool- He could steal it with the California Bankers!
CHORUS- So be careful all you rowdies, &c.
Put's Golden Songster, pages 39-42 Tune and lyrics in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush,> pp. 144-146. Tune D. D. Emmett