Lyr Add: Ho! For California!

Subject: Lyr Add: HO! FOR CALIFORNIA! (Hutchison, Emmett)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Jul 09 - 02:56 PM

HO! FOR CALIFORNIA!
Lyrics J. Hutchison, Music D. Emmett

1
We've formed our band and are well mann'd,
To journey afar to the promised land,
Where the golden ore is rich in store,
On the banks of the Sacramento shore.

Chorus:
Then, ho! Brothers ho!
To California go.
There's plenty of gold
in the world we're told,
On the banks of the Sacramento.
Heigh O, and away we go,
Digging up gold in Francisco.

2
O! don't you cry, nor heave a sigh,
For we'll all come back again, by and by,
Don't breathe a fear, nor shed a tear,
But patiently wait for about two year.
3
As the gold is thar, most any whar,
And they dig it out with an iron bar,
And where 'tis thick, with a spade or pick,
They can take out lumps as heavy as brick.
4
As we explore the distant shore,-
We'll fill our pockets with the shining ore;
And how 'twill sound, as the word goes round,
Of our picking up gold by the dozen pound.
5
We expect our share of the coarsest fare,
And sometimes to sleep in the open air,
Upon the cold ground we shall all sleep sound
Except when the wolves are howling round.
6
As off we roam over the dark sea foam,
We'll never forget our friends at home
For memories kind will bring to mind
The thoughts of those we leave behind.
7
In the days of old, the Prophets told
Of the City to come, all framed in gold,
Peradventure they forsaw the day,
Now dawning in California.
8
O! the land we'll save, for the bold and brave-
Have determined there never shall breathe a slave;
Let foes recoil, for the sons of toil
Shall make California GOD'S FREE SOIL.

Chorus:
Then, ho! Brothers ho! to California go,
No slave shall toil on God's Free Soil,
On the banks of the Sacramento.
Heigh O, and away we go,
Chanting our songs of Freedom, O.

"Book of Words of the Hutchinson Family," (New York: Baker, Godwin & Co., 1851); Argonauts.
Music: "De Boatmen Dance," Transposed from F to C.
Printed with sheet music and chords; Richard A Dwyer and Richard E. Lingenfelter, ed., music and guitar arrangements by David Cohen, 1965, "The Songs of the Gold Rush," Univ. California Press, pp. 15-16.

Surprised I couldn't find this song in Mudcat. The Hutchisons are said to have written this about 1848.