Then Hurrah for Home
[Air: A Few Days]

1
I'm going home to stop awhile;
Farewell! Farewell!
Before I go we'll take a smile
Then hurrah for home!
These banking thieves I will not trust,
Farewell! Farewell!
But with me take my little dust,
Then hurrah for home!

2
Oh, won't I have some high old times,
Farewell! Farewell!
Telling yarns about the mines?
Then hurrah for home!
I'll leave this world of rags and dirt,
Farewell! Farewell!
And wear a plug and ruffle shirt!
Then hurrah for home!

3
I'll put on airs like Harry Meiggs,
Farewell! Farewell!
Live on oysters, ham and eggs,
Then hurrah for home!
I'll sink enough to pay my fare,
Farewell! Farewell!
Return when tired of staying there,
Then hurrah for home!

Chorus:
Although I like the diggings,
Farewell! Farewell!
Although I like the diggings,
I'm going to leave!
For I can't always be with you,
Farewell! Farewell!
For I can't always be with you,
Then hurrah for home!
(Repeat)

Put's Golden Songster, p. 60
Tune and lyrics in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp. 175-176
Music: A Few Days, Golden Wreath

---

Click to play (joeweb)

[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
There are number of songs that sprouted forth in 1854 sharing the common title and tune of "Few Days", mostly of a patriotic or religious nature. My brief research turned up no composer for the tune—period sheet music folios mention only arrangers—but I'd guess that it began as a spiritual.

The present text seems most closely patterned on a version called "Few Days, or I'm going home", as sung by Christy's Minstrels, but for my transcription I used the version "Few Days, Few Days, or, We know the way," which is musically a bit more interesting. In every version I saw, the actual chorus used the same tune (sometimes simplified) as the first verse; the part that would vary most (if present) would be a secondary verse pattern. I've followed Cohen's lead in setting the Stone "chorus" to such a secondary pattern. But given the odd structure of the Stone text (three verses, implying no pairing, with the chorus placed last and explicitly repeated), I think it most likely that Stone envisioned using the same first verse tune for all successive parts.

Sheet music can be found in the Lester S. Levy Collection and in the Library of Congress American Memory collection.
Digital Tradition: Few Days (modern folk version dervied from Stone's text; no music)
Mudcat thread: Few Days - I Can't Stay in These Diggins
Mudcat thread: Then Hurrah for Home

[Back to Contents]