SAILOR SONGS


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I Come From Salem City

This song follows the melody and chords of Stephen Foster's "Oh Suzannah".
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com

G                                             A7                            D7
I came from Salem City with my washbowl on my knee      
G                                        D7           G 
I'm going to California the gold dust for too see      
G                                                     A7                   D7 
It rained all night the day I left the weather it was dry           
G                                                    D7           G 
The sun so hot I froze to death oh! brothers don't you cry

Chorus 
C                       G                        D7 
Oh! California, that's the land for me, 
      G                                                       
A7           D7       G  
I'm bound for San Francisco with my washboard on my knee


I jumped aboard the "Liza" ship and traveled on the sea

And every time I though of home I wished it wasn't me

The vessel reared like any horse, that had of oats a wealth

I found it wouldn't throw me so I thought I'd throw myself

CHORUS


I though of all the pleasant time we've had together here  

I thought that I would cry a bit, but couldn't find a tear  

The pilot bread was in my mouth, the gold dust in my eye

Although I'm going far away Oh! brothers don't you cry

CHORUS


I soon shall be in "Frisco, and there I shall look around and

When I see the gold lumps there, I'll pick them off the ground

I'll scrape the rivers clean my boys, I'll drain the rivers dry

A pocket full of rock bring home so brother's don't you cry

CHORUS  



The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.