Seeing The Elephant
Air: Boatman Dance 
Put's Original California Songster
Sacramento: Gardiner & Kirk, 1854
When I left the States for gold,
Everything I had I sold:
A stove and bed, a fat old sow
Sixteen chickens and a cow.
Chorus:
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave,
Take my advice, kill off your lice, or else go up in the mountains;
Oh no, lots of dust, I'm going to the city to get on a "bust,"
Oh no, lots of dust, I'm going to the city to get on a "bust."
Off I started, Yankee-like,
I soon fell in with a lot from Pike;
The next was, "D——n you, back, wo-haw,"
A right smart chance from Arkansaw.
So leave, you miners, etc.
On the Platte we couldn't agree,
Because I had the di-a-ree,
We there split up, I made a break,
With one old mule for the Great Salt Lake.
So leave, you miners, etc.
The Mormon girls were fat as hogs,
The chief production, cats and dogs;
Some had ten wives, others none,
Thirty-six had Brigham Young.
So leave, you miners, etc.
The d—d fool, like all the rest,
Supposed the thirty-six the best;
He soon found out his virgin dears
Had all been Mormons thirteen years.
So leave, you miners, etc.
Being brave, I cut and carved,
On the desert nearly starved;
My old mule laid down and died,
I had no blanket, took his hide.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh leave, you miners leave, etc.
The poor coyotes stole my meat,
Then I had nought but bread to cat;
It was not long till that gave out,
Then how I cursed the Truckee route!
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you leave, etc.
On I traveled through the pines,
At last I found the northern mines;
I stole a dog, got whipt like h——ll,
Then away I went to Marys'ville.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
There I filled the town with lice,
And robbed the Chinese of their rice;
The people say, "You've got the itch,
Leave here, you lousy son of a b——."
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
Because I would not pay my bill,
They kicked me out of Downieville;
I stole a mule and lost the trail,
And then fetched up in Hangtown Jail.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
Canvas roof and paper walls,
Twenty horse-thieves in the stalls;
I did as I had done before,
Coyoted out from 'neath the floor.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
I robbed a nigger of a dollar,
And bought unguent to grease my collar;
I tried a pint, not one had gone,
Then it beat the d——l how I daubed it on,
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
The people threatened hard my life,
Because I stole a miner's wife;
They showed me a rope, to give me signs,
Then off I went to the southern mines.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
I mined a while, got lean and lank,
And lastly stole a monte-bank;
Went to the city, got a gambler's name
And lost my bank at the thimble game.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
I fell in love with a California girl;
Her eyes were gray, her hair did curl;
Her nose turned up to get rid of her chin—
Says she, "You're a miner, you can't come in."
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners leave, etc.
When the elephant I had seen,
I'm d——d if I thought I was green;
And others say, both night and morn,
They saw him coming round the Horn.
So leave, you miners, leave, oh, leave, you miners, leave, etc.
If I should make another raise,
In New York sure I'll spend my days;
I'll be a merchant, buy a saw,
So good-bye, mines and Panama.
So leave, you miners leave, oh, leave, you miners leave, etc.
Score from the Library Of Congress
Score from the Lester S Levy Collection
MIDI file of "Boatman Dance " (Used by permission of B. R. Tubb from his website at Public Domain Music)