RHYMES from the SILVER STATE2.Pages
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Rhymes From The Silver State -old and unacceptable lyrics © 2014 CW BAYER © 2014 CW BAYER nevadamusic.com Search: “nevadamusic” on Facebook, http://nevadamusic.ecwid.com for hard copy purchase. About CW BAYER For decades, CW has played music all over Nevada and along the Eastern Slope. Email for info. Perfect for wakes, foreclosures, bankruptcies and the better saloons. See songs, books and calendar at nevadamusic.com Visit: nevadamusic.com ! !2 Introduction ...................................................................................................5 ARRIVAL OF THE GREENHORN, 1854 ...........................................................6 BOUND FOR THE LAND OF WASHOE, 1863 .................................................8 BALDY GREEN, 1865 .....................................................................................9 EXCELSIOR, 1866 .........................................................................................11 THE ARTFUL JERKER, 1868 .........................................................................13 THE COLLOQUY OF THE OLD TIMERS, c.1868 ...........................................14 THE DAYS OF '49, 1868 ...............................................................................25 LITTLE BREECHES, 1870 ..............................................................................27 THE WASHOE CANARY, 1871 ......................................................................29 FIRE IN THE TUNNEL, 1872 .........................................................................31 ARE YOU A HOOD-A-LUM, 1872 .................................................................33 OSCEOLA, 1877 ...........................................................................................34 CHICKEN TOMALES, 1879 ...........................................................................36 THE PRINCESS WEIMAR, 1879 ....................................................................38 SILVER JACK’S RELIGION, c.1885 ................................................................42 THE MINER’S SOLILOQUY, 1888 .................................................................43 THE BOLD BUCCAROO, 1889 ......................................................................45 OUT OF CARSON, 1892 ...............................................................................46 LAKE TAHOE GIVES NOT UP HER DEAD, 1894 ...........................................47 THE MIRACULOUS BULL, 1894 ....................................................................48 COUSIN JACK, c.1895 .................................................................................54 SOUTHERN KLONDIKE, 1900 ......................................................................55 THE FELLER I WAS SORRY FOR, 1901 .........................................................57 THE HIGHGRADER, c.1905 ..........................................................................59 THE MINING ENGINEER’S SONG, 1909 ......................................................60 CASEY JONES, 1911 ....................................................................................61 THE GIRL OF THE SAGEBRUSH STATE, 1914 ...............................................62 THE LAST TRIP, 1917 ....................................................................................63 Visit: nevadamusic.com ! !3 THE CALL OF THE AMBULANCE, 1917 .......................................................65 THE DESERT RAT, 1919 ................................................................................66 SONG OF THE DEATH VALLEY PROSPECTORS, 1919 .................................67 HARD ROCK DANN, 1925 ...........................................................................69 BACKIN JIM, 1927 .......................................................................................71 WAGON TRAMPS ON THE CARSON SINK, 1927 ........................................73 US OLD BOYS ON BOULDER DAM, 1931 ....................................................74 HOME MEANS NEVADA, 1932 ....................................................................76 IN MEMORIUM TO WHISKEY PETE, 1934 ...................................................77 Visit: nevadamusic.com ! !4 Introduction Look elsewhere to find rhymes about the purple mountains. These lyrics were written at at time when anti-boss griping and American tribalism defined many miners and ranchers across Nevada, defining the language and humor of those men. One might long for that lost time or lament its origins in a deep rooted violence. It is what it is, and it should be remembered. For the most part, this literature has been lost. And, those days have been replaced by cartoon cowboys sporting tacky Hollywood dialog while more serious types spout homilies to the pioneer spirit. Guard small children from this book. If you are looking for some vindication of power, don’t bother with it. Please accept my apologies in advance for failing to edit out the overt and brutally self- serving racism that sometimes crops up. This is history--hopefully that portion behind us. If you understand that this is a rare look at a much romanticized but forgotten culture, you may also be interested in my book, “The Strychnine Banjo, Charley Rhoades, Jake Wallace and The Days of ’49.” That book traces two men and a song that span much of this same ground. CW Bayer Carson City, Nevada nevadamusic.com Visit: nevadamusic.com ! !5 ARRIVAL OF THE GREENHORN, 1854 John Stone, California Written in the Sierra Nevada about passage across Nevada, this lyric of overland travel set the lyric style that, with the rush to Washoe, has long amused the desert rat and appalled the civilized. The mock heroic form originated in San Francisco during the early 1850s, coming direct from London saloon theater. It got its wings with minstrel show banjoists who traveled the diggings and, later, into Virginia City. It carried over into early cowboy poetry. I’ve just got in across the Plains, I’m poorer than a snail, My mules all died, but poor old Clip, I pulled in by the tail; I fed him last at Chimney Rock, that’s where the grass gave out, I’m proud to tell, we stood it well, along the Truckee route. But’ I’m very weak and lean, though I started plump and fat, How I wish I had the gold machine, I left back on the Platte! And a pair of striped bed tick pants, my Sally made for me, To wear while digging after gold and when I left says she, “Here take the laudanum with you Sam, to check the di-a-ree.” When I left Missouri river, with my California rig, I had a shovel, pick and pan, the tools they used to dig; My mules gave out along the Platte, where they got alkalied, And I sick with the “di-a-ree,” my laudanum by my side. When I reached the little Blue, I’d one boot and a shoe, Which I thought by greasing once or twice, would last me nearly through; I had needles, threads and pills, which my mammy did prescribe, And a flint-lock musket full, to shoot the Digger tribe, But I left them all on Goose Creek where I freely did imbibe. I joined in with a train from Pike; at Independence Rock, The Indians came in that night, stampeded all their stock; They laughed at me, said, “Go a-foot,”but soon they stopped their fun, For my old mule was left behind so poor he could not run. So I packed my fancy nag, for the rest I could not wait, And I traveled up Sweet Water, till I came to Devil’s Gate; When my mule gave out in sight of where I started in the morn, I’d have given all my boots and shoes if I had not been born, Or I’d rather shipped at New Orleans, to swim around the Horn. I arrived at Salt Lake City, on the 18th of July, Old Brigham Young was on a “bust,” he swore they’d never die; I went to the see the Jordan, with a lady, God forgive her, She took me to the water’s edge, and shoved me in the river; I crawled out and started on, and managed very well, Until I struck the Humboldt, which I thought was nearly hell, I traveled till I struck the sink where outlet can’t be found, The Lord got through late Saturday night, he’d finished all around, But would not work on Sunday, so he run it on the ground. Visit: nevadamusic.com ! !6 The Peyouts stole what grub I had, they left me not a bite, And now the devil was to pay—the Desert was in sight; And as the people passed along, they’d say to me, “You fool, You’ll never get through the world, unless you leave that mule.” But I pushed, pulled and coaxed, till I finally made a start, And his bones, they squeaked and rattled so, I thought he’d fall apart, I killed a buzzard now and then, gave Clip the legs and head. We crossed the Truckee thirty times, but not a tear was shed, We crossed the summit, took the trail, that to Nevada led. When I got to Sacramento, I got on a little tight, I lodged aboard the Prison brig, one-half a day and night; I vamosed when I got ashore, went to the Northern mines, There found the saying very true, “All is not gold that shines.” I dug, packed and chopped, and have drifted night and day, But I haven’t struck a single lead, that would me wages pay, At home they think we ought to have gold on our cabin shelves, Wear high-heeled boots, well blacked, instead of rubbers, No. twelves; But let them come and try it, till they satisfy themselves. Visit: nevadamusic.com ! !7 BOUND FOR THE LAND OF WASHOE, 1863 Mart Taylor, Virginia City Accompanied by her mentor, Jake Williams, on banjo, sixteen year old Lotta Crabtree sang this song in Virginia City to cheer the miners after a difficult winter. Beginning 1856, Taylor sought to counter what he saw as John Stone’s “vulgar” verses and the 1863 song was his last effort