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.
