Seeing the Elephant (When I Left the States for Gold)

DESCRIPTION: "When I left the states for gold, Everything I had I sold." The singer encounters various troubles (and Mormons) on the way west, and warns, "Leave, you miners leave... Take my advice, kill off your lice...." (To the tune of "De Boatman Dance")
AUTHOR: Words: David Robinson? John A. Stone?/Music: Daniel Decatur Emmett
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: travel hardtimes gold warning
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 347, "When I Left the States for Gold" (1 text)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 87-88, "Seeing the Elephant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7773
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "De Boatman Dance" (tune)
NOTES [69 words]: The history of this is a bit obscure. It was David "Doc" Robinson who founded the "Seeing the Elephant" show in San Francisco in 1850, and Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest credits the song to him. But this song, to the tune of "De Boatman Dance," appeared in Put's Original California Songster. I can't tell whether Put worked on something Robinson wrote, or just commemorated his performances. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Beld347

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