The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #126347 Message #2892422
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
22-Apr-10 - 08:26 PM
Thread Name: From SF to Sydney - 1853 Shanties Sung?
Subject: RE: From SF to Sydney - 1853 Shanties Sung?
Here is my sketchy take on "Sacramento."
It is a sort of composite of several songs. The Hutchinson Family's "Ho! For California" of 1849 supplied the chorus.
The verse melody may have come from the SAILOR FIREMAN song. Either that, or it was simply "cut from the same cloth" that this came from. Listen HERE. Now, remember to compare that to what may have been the ORIGINAL verse melody of "Sacramento." I hate my rendition of it, but what the hell, listen HERE
The only missing piece is "hoo-da"/"doo-da" (or "ho day" in the Plattdeutsche version). That is the only bit that, to my mind, really needs to be reconciled with respect to Stephen Foster's 1850 song. I don't know which chicken or egg came first there.
Later on, I would imagine that Camptown Races entered the public consciousness and it all got blended together some more. Because of the "hoo-da" similarity, sailors may have started singing their verses to the same melody as that of Camptown Races.