SEEING THE ELEPHANT
Words: D. G. Robinson
Music: D. E. Emmett ("de Boatman Dance")

When I left the States for gold
Everything I had was sold:
A stove and bed, a fat old sow
Sixteen chickens and a cow

chorus:
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, Leave, you miners, leave,
Take my advice, kill off your lice, or else go up to the mountains;
Oh, no, lots of dust, I'm going to the city to get on a "bust."
Oh, no, lots of dust, I'm going to the city to get on a "bust."

Off I started, Yankee-like,
I soon fell in with a lot from Pike;
The next was, "Damn you, back, wo-haw,"
A right smart chance from Arkansaw

On the Platte we couldn't agree,
Because I had the di-a-ree;
We were split up, I made a break,
With one old mule for the Great Salt Lake.

The Mormon girls were fat as hogs,
The chief production, cats and dogs;
Some had ten wives, others none,
Thirty-six had Brigham Young.

The damn fool, like all the rest,
Supposed the thirty-six the best;
He soon found out his virgin dears
Had all been Mormons thirteen years.

Being brave, I cut and carved,
On the desert nearly starved;
My old mule laid down and died,
I had no blanket, took his hid.

The poor coyotes stole my meat,
Then I had nought but bread to eat;
It was not long till that gave out,
Then how I cursed the Truckee route!

On I traveled through the pines,
At last I found the northern mines;
I stole a dog, got whipt like hell,
Then away I went to Marysville.

There I filled the town with lice,
And robbed the Chinese of their rice;
The people say, "You've got the itch,
Leave here, you lousy son of a bitch."

Because I would not pay my bill,
They kicked me out of Downieville;
I stole a mule and lost the trail
And then fetched up in Hangtown jail.

Canvas roof and paper walls,
Twenty horse-thieves in the stalls;
I did as I had done before,
Coyoted out from 'neath the floor.

I robbed a nigger of a dollar,
And bought unguent to grease my collar;
I tried a pint, not one had gone,
Then it beat the devil how I daubed it on.

I mined a while, got lean and lank,
And lastly stole a monte-bank;
Went to the city, got a gambler's name
And lost my bank at the thimble game.

I fell in love with a California girl;
Here eyes were gray, her hair did curl;
Her nose turned up to get rid of her chin –
Says she, "You're a miner, you can't come in."

When the elephant I had seen,
I'm damned if I thought I was green;
And others say, both night and morn,
they saw him coming round the Horn.

If I should make another raise,
In New York sure I'll spend my days;
I'll be a merchant, buy a saw,
So, good-bye, mines and Panama.

Songwriter D.G. Robinson was a New England road-show trouper who opened one of San Francisco's first theaters (from "Songs of the American West," Lingenfelter & Dwyer")

To forty-niners and those following, no expression characterized the California gold rush more than the words "seeing the elephant." Those planning to travel west announced they were "going to see the elephant." Those turning back claimed they had seen the "elephant's tracks" or the "elephant's tail," and confessed they'd seen more than enough of the animal.
The expression predated the gold rush, arising from a tale current when circus parades first featured elephants. A farmer, so the story went, hearing that a circus was in town, loaded his wagon with vegetables for the market there. He had never seen an elephant and very much wished to. On the way to town he encountered the circus parade, led by an elephant. The farmer was thrilled. His horses, however, were terrified. Bolting, they overturned the wagon and ruined the vegetables. "I don't give a hang," the farmer said, "for I have seen the elephant."
For gold rushers, the elephant symbolized both the high cost of their endeavor -- the myriad possibilities for misfortune on the journey or in California -- and, like the farmer's circus elephant, an exotic sight, and unequaled experience, the adventure of a lifetime.

The tune is supposed to be "De Boatman Dance," but it seems different from the "Boatman" tune in the database.

MIDI file: SEEING~1.MID

Timebase: 192

Name: Seeing the Elephant
Text: By D.G. Dobinson (words)
Copyright: music: D.D. Emmett "De Boatman Dance"
TimeSig: 2/4 24 8
Start
0000 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0142 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 69 110 0046 0 69 000 0002 1 69 110 0046 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0142 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0032 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0142 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 64 110 0256 0 64 000 0032 1 60 110 0046 0 60 000 0002 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0160 0 67 000 0128 1 69 110 0094 0 69 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 60 110 0160 0 60 000 0128 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 62 110 0142 0 62 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 62 110 0094 0 62 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0194 1 72 110 0160 0 72 000 0032 1 72 110 0160 0 72 000 0032 1 72 110 0094 0 72 000 0002 1 72 110 0094 0 72 000 0002 1 69 110 0142 0 69 000 0002 1 60 110 0046 0 60 000 0002 1 60 110 0046 0 60 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 69 110 0046 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000 0098 1 72 110 0160 0 72 000 0032 1 72 110 0160 0 72 000 0032 1 72 110 0094 0 72 000 0002 1 72 110 0094 0 72 000 0002 1 69 110 0142 0 69 000 0002 1 60 110 0046 0 60 000 0002 1 60 110 0046 0 60 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 69 110 0046 0 69 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0046 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0094 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 64 110 0094 0 64 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 67 110 0046 0 67 000 0002 1 60 110 0094 0 60 000
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:Seeing the Elephant
M:2/4
Q:1/4=120
K:C
A2A2G3E|AAG4A2|A2G2E2G2|G2E3GA2|A2G2E2A2|
A2G4A2|A2GE3G2|G2E2C2E2|-E4CD2E|-EG6A|-AE2C2D2E|
-EC6C|-CE2C2D3|EG2G2C2C|-CE2G2D2E|EC2C5|-Cc4c3|
-cc2c2A3|CCEAGEG2|GE2GGC3|-Cc4c3|-cc2c2A3|
CCEAGEG2|GE2GGC2||