Here's another addition to the Mudcat database, with some prefatory remarks written by Richard for the book, Castles in the Air, that accompanies the CD.
Cathryn Wellner

In this song from Rough But Honest Miner, James Anderson takes the voice of the Hurdy dancers. There is little doubt that many miners "cast sheep eye's" at the Hurdies. Clearly some fell in love and some more in lust, as evident from the Hurdies who stayed on in Cariboo to marry. It is also clear that at $1.00 a dance plus the cost of drinks, of which the Hurdies got a cut, it was not hard for a young in-lust miner to "spend his all" on the Hurdies.

The "four and twenty Welshmen, all sitting in a row," refers to the Company of Welsh Adventurers, a group of 24 miners who arrived in 1863, led by Captain John Evans and supported by British capital. They mined for two years with expenses of $26,000 and only retrieved $450 in gold. Men deserted regularly, and when the enterprise failed in 1864 all but Evans and few others scattered. For a time, however, they were the centre of a large Welsh community that was responsible for building the Cambrian Hall in Barkerville.>br>
THE DANCING GIRLS OF CARIBOO

Air — "Young Man from the Countree"

We are dancing girls in Cariboo,
And we're liked by all the men,
In gum boots and a blanket coat—
And e'en the upper ten!
We all of us have swee-eet-hearts,
But the dearest of all to me!
Is that young man who wistfully
Casts those sheep's-eyes at me!
Chorus—"Is that young man," etc.

O ev'ry night at eight o'clock,
We enter the saloon—
Altho' it may be vacant then,
'Tis crowded very soon.
Then all the boys they stare at us,
But we do not mind that so
Like those four-and-twenty Welshmen,
All sitting in a row.
Chorus—"Like those," etc.

O' what a charming thing it is,
To have a pretty face—
To know that one can kill as well
In calico as lace;
We steal the hearts of everyone,
But the dearest of all to me,
Is that dear boy with the curly head,
Who loves me faithfully,
Chorus—"Is that dear boy," etc.

To all the boys of Cariboo,
This moral—which is right—
From the dancing gals of Cariboo,
You may see on any night—
"Before we either give our hearts,
Or yet our sympath-ee,
You must be like this dear young man,
Who spends his all on me!"
Chorus—"You must be," etc.


Sawney's Letters and Cariboo Rhymes by James Anderson