The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #171530 Message #4148937
Posted By: Jim Dixon
01-Aug-22 - 11:50 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Abalone (George Sterling?)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE ABALONE SONG (George Sterling)
From Cornel Lengyel (ed.), A San Francisco Songster (1849-1939), (San Francisco: Works Progress Administration, History of Music Project, 1939).
[The version on page 128 contains the same lyrics as Sandburg’s and the bibliography credits American Songbag as the source. However, it gives the title as “THE ABALONE SONG” and credits George Sterling as the songwriter, with no further explanation.
[On page 128A, which follows 128, there is a new heading, new songwriting credits, and the verses are rearranged as five 8-line verses, with a few minor differences as follows:]
ABALONE SONG (version)
Verses by George Sterling, Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and Gelett Burgess.
Music adapted by Sterling Sherwin.
[1] Oh, some folks boast of quail on toast
Because they think it's toney,
But I'm content to owe my rent
And live on abalone.
Oh! Mission Point's a friendly joint,
Where ev'ry crab's a crony,
And true and kind you'll ever find
The clinging abalone.
[2] He wanders free beside the sea,
Where'er the coast is stony;
He flaps his wings and madly sings—
The plaintive abalone.
By Carmel Bay, the people say,
We feed the Lazzaroni
On Boston beans and fresh sardines,
And toothsome abalone.
[3] Some live on hope, and some on dope
And some on alimony;
But my tom-cat, he lives on fat
And tender abalone.
Oh! some drink rain and some champagne,
Or brandy by the pony;
But I will try a little rye
With a dash of abalone.
[4] Oh! some like jam, and some like ham,
And some like macaroni;
But bring me in a pail of gin
And a tub of abalone.
He hides in caves beneath the waves,—
His ancient patrimony;
And so 'tis shown that faith alone
Reveals the abalone.
[5] The more we take the more they make
In deep-sea matrimony;
Race suicide cannot betide
The fertile abalone.
I telegraph my better half
By Morse or by Marconi;
But if the need arise for speed,
I send an abalone.
[Musical notation for one voice is given on page 128B.]
[The bibliography sources this version to
Sterling Sherwin, Songs of San Francisco (New York: Remick Music Corporation, 1939)
I haven’t seen this book, but you can see the cover here and the table of contents here.