Life in California

DESCRIPTION: Singer leaves his family in Maine to seek California gold; he loses his money at cards and catches the "fever-n-ager." He asks for food, drink, lodging. Cho: "I'm a used-up man, a perfect used-up man/And if ever I get home again, I'll stay there if I can"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1853 (California Songster)
KEYWORDS: disease homesickness loneliness poverty home emigration separation travel mining cards death family
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1848 - gold found in Sutter's Mill, California.
1849 - multitudes of easterners emigrate west, hoping to "make their pile"
FOUND IN: US(SW)
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Life in California" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Used-Up Man" (tune)
NOTES [5 words]: Fever and ague: Malaria. - RBW
File: RcLiICal

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