Fools of Forty-Nine, The

DESCRIPTION: Crowds head for California and the gold fields. En route they suffer poverty, hunger, and disaster -- and few find gold. "Then they thought of what they had been told, When they started after gold: That they never, in this world, would make their pile."
AUTHOR: Words: John A. Stone (Old Put)
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Put's Original California Songster)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes gold mining
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 107, "(The Fools of '49)" (1 text found under "Sweet Betsy from Pike")
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, p. 25, "The Fools of '49" (1 text, tune referenced)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 184-185, "The Fools of Forty-Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FOOLS49
Roud #8058
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "That Is Even So" (plot)
cf. "Commence, You Darkies All" (tune, according to Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest)
File: San107A

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography