HANGTOWN GALS
(Air: New York Gals)
J.A. Stone

1
Hangtown gals are plump and rosy,
Hair in ringlets mighty cosy;
Painted cheeks and gassy bonnets;
Touch them and they'll sting like hornets.

CHORUS:
Hangtown gals are lovely creatures,
Think they'll marry Mormon preachers;
Heads thrown back to show their features
Ha, ha, ha! Hangtown gals.

2
They'er dreadful shy of forty-niners,
Turn their noses up at miners;
Shocked to hear them say "gol durn it!"
Try to blush, but cannot come it.

3
They'll catch a neighbor's cat and beat it,
Cut a bean in half to eat it;
Promenade in silk and satin,
Cannot talk, but murder latin.

4
On the streets they're always grimming;
Modestly they lift their linen;
Petticoats all trimmed with laces,
Matching well their painted faces.

5
To church they very seldom venture--
Hoops so large they cannot enter;
Go it, gals, you're young and tender,
Shun the pick and shovel gender.

Text: Golden Songster.
Music: "New York Gals" or "Boston Gals," Comic Songs.

(From: Richard A. Dwyer and Richard E. Lingenfelter, eds., The Songs of the Gold Rush, University of California Press, 1965, p. 126; with music)

~Masato