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Banks of Sacramento, The (Camptown Races Melody)
Traditional American, Country Dance Tune; English, North-West Morris Tune (4/4 time), Words and Melody of related Camptown Races by Stephen Foster- 1849.
ARTIST: Lyrics from Iron Men & Wooden Ships, by Frank Shay. Possibly created and certainly popularized by the Hutchinson Family (who published a text in their 1855 songbook).
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1849 (Journal of William F. Morgan of the La Grange)
RELATED TO: “Camptown Races;” "Ten Thousand Miles Away;" "A Capital Ship."
RECORDING INFO: Pete Seeger, "Camptown Races" (on PeteSeeger24); Atkins, Chet. Chet Atkins and his Guitar, RCA Camden CAS 659(e), LP (1964), cut#B.05c; Fahey, John. Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, Takoma R-9015, LP (196?), cut# 12b; Fluharty, Russell. West Virginia Heritage, Page SLP 601, LP (197?), cut#B.05; Hamilton, Mark. Songs and Tunes from Wolf Run, Sampler 9223, Cas (1992), cut# 13 (First Four Right and Left, Sides Sashay); Homer and the Barnstormers. Blue Grass Banjos - Flaming Banjos, Alshire 2-120-1/2, LP (197?), cut#1B.04; Jackson, Bill. Steamboat Coming, National Geographic Soc. 07787, LP (1976), cut# 11; Leigh, Bonnie. Down in the Shady Grove, Maywind K56-03, CD (1998), cut# 7e.
SOURCES: Eddy 125, "California;" Warner 70, "Ho, Boys, Ho;" Doerflinger, pp. 68-70, "Sacramento;" Sandburg, pp. 110-111, "California"; 111, "The Banks of Sacramento;" Lomax-FSUSA 42, "Sacramento;" Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 91, "Banks of the Sacramento;" Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 174-176, "The California Song; " Silber-FSWB, p. 88, "Sacramento." Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc.
OTHER NAMES: "Hoodah Day," "Camptown Races," “Gwine to Run All Night,” “Sacramento;" "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." “Ho! For Californ-I-O” “Bobtail Hoss/Horse” “ Californio”. Not to be confused with “New Camptown Races” composed by mandolinist Frank Wakefield about 1957 on Folkways FA 2492, New Lost City Ramblers - "String Band Instrumentals" (1964).
NOTES: "G Major (Sweet, Wade): Standard. AB (Wade): AABB (Sweet). Wade's version is the famous Stephen Foster song melody translated to the North-West Morris tradition (for use with either a polka or single step). In America there is a singing call to the tune for square dancers. Apparently, the melody was collected as a sea shanty called "Banks of Sacramento," whose origins were in the California Gold Rush of 1849. This seems to predate the Stephen Foster copyright, but the relation, if any, between the two is unclear." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
Spaeth in a A History of Popular Music in America, p. 107 notes that a "folk-song" called "Hoodah Day" is very similar to the Camptown Races song, and speculates that it or "Banks of Sacramento" could have been the original of the Foster song. Same tune in "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
Possibly created and certainly popularized by the Hutchinson Family (who published a text in their 1855 songbook), versions of this song are found throughout the U.S., and are well-known among sailors. Most of the lyrics are related to the California gold rush in 1849. The tune is a variation on "Camptown Races," perhaps in turn based on "A Capital Ship." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
Sing and heave, and heave and sing,
To me hoodah! To my hoodah!
Heave and make the handspikes spring.
To me hoodah! To me hoodah!
And it's blow, boys, blow,
For Californi-o.
For there's plenty of gold,
So I've been told,
On the banks of the Sacramento.
From Limehouse Docks to Sydney Heads,
To me hoodah! To my hoodah!
Was never more than seventy days.
To me hoodah! To me hoodah!
And it's blow, boys, blow,
For Californi-o.
For there's plenty of gold,
So I've been told,
On the banks of the Sacramento.
We cracked it on, on a big skiute,
To me hoodah! To my hoodah!
And the old man felt like a swell galoot.
To me hoodah! To me hoodah!
And it's blow, boys, blow,
For Californi-o.
For there's plenty of gold,
So I've been told,
On the banks of the Sacramento.
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