This song is available on Judy Caplan Ginsburgh's Musical America.
Stephen Foster wrote the original lyrics in 1847.
I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
I'm going to Louisiana,
My true love for to see
It rained all night
The day I left
The weather it was dry
The sun so hot,
I froze to death
Susanna, don't you cry
Oh, Susanna,
Oh don't you cry for me
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
I had a dream the other night
When everything was still
I thought I saw Susanna
A-coming down the hill
The buckwheat cake
Was in her mouth
The tear was
In her eye
Says I, I'm coming from the south
Susanna, don't you cry
Oh, Susanna,
Oh don't you cry for me
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
"Oh Susannah" was set with new lyrics and became known as the "forty-niners" theme song. This version was sung by miners during the California Gold Rush.
I came from Salem City
with my washpan on my knee
I'm going to California,
the gold dust for to see.
It rained all night the day I left,
the weather it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death,
Oh, brothers don't you cry.
Oh, Susannah, Oh, don't you cry for me
I'm going to California with my washpan on my knee.
I soon shall be in Frisco
and there I'll look around.
And when I see the gold lumps there,
I'll pick them off the ground.
I'll scrape the mountains clean, my boys,
I'll drain the rivers dry.
A pocketful of rocks bring home,
So, brothers don't you cry.
This song is available on Phil Rosenthal's The Green Grass Grew All Around: Family Folk Songs.
This song is available on Judy Caplan Ginsburgh's Musical America.
