Abalone

DESCRIPTION: "In Carmel Bay the people say we feed the lazzaroni On caramels and cockle-shells and hunks of Abalone." The virtues of this mollusk are extolled: It cures pain, tastes better than the finest foods, and can be transmitted faster than electricity (?!)
AUTHOR: Words: probably George Sterling (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag)
KEYWORDS: nonsense nonballad animal
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 333, "Abalone" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 32, #4 (1987), p. 90, "Abalone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jack London, _The Valley of the Moon (New York: McKinlay, Stone & Mackenzie, 1913)_, pp. 386-7, 391, 392, "(no title)" (9 verses)
Cornel Lengyel (editor), _A San Francisco Songster (1849-1939)_ (San Francisco: Works Progress Administration, History of Music Project, 1939) (available on Google Books), pp. 128-128B, "Abalone Song" (3 texts, 1 tune)
The Monterey Herald, October 28, 2007 (https://www.montereyherald.com/2007/10/28/the-abalone-song/), "The Abalone Song" (1 text, reportedly Sterling's official version)
Roud #10113
NOTES [144 words]: The anonymous Book of Vulgar Verse credits a version of this to George Sterling. But the book does not list a more detailed source. In support of this claim, K. LaRoe writes, "I had recently read a reference to The Abalone Song, written by the poet George Sterling in the early 1900s while staying in an artist's colony in Carmel California." Jim Dixon turned up the version in the San Francisco Songster, which credits it to George Sterling, Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and Gelett Burgess with music adapted by "Sterling Sherwin" (which I suspect means George Sterling and someone else). It seems likely that Sterling is the original source, but I don't have proof.
There seems to be a strong tendency for singers to rewrite this; I suspect Sandburg's hand in his version, and Sam Hinton confesses to adding four verses to the Sing Out! version. - (JD), RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: San333

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