Dyer:  This is Richard L. Dyer, instructor of history, introducing the first tape recording of Ballads of the Old West for the center of Motherlode Studies at Columbia Junior College.  Our recording artist is Brent Corson, formally a student at Columbia Junior College, now a music teacher in Sonora.

*Harmonica playing (:24-:59)

Dyer:  Brent, we’d really like to get to know you a little bit better before you start with some of your selections, so why don’t you tell us where you’re from first.

Corson:  Well I’m originally from Pasadena, CA and…

Dyer:  How many years back?

Corson:  Oh that was…I left there when I was 18 for a job in Sequoia National Park where I was entertaining at campfires at night and tending cabins in the daytime.

Dyer:  And when did you really start your musical training?

Corson:  Well probably when I was about six or seven years old when I heard my father playing the organ and playing many of the old songs, traditional songs, and it was at that time that I started playing harmonica, and which later lead to digging a guitar out of a trashcan trying to string that up but my father got mad and bought me a good guitar.  That was probably the beginning. 

Dyer:  You also play the banjo don’t you, Brent?

Corson:  Yes.  The banjo was improvised out of necessity in the State of Virginia when Jakey’s Pizza Parlor offered me a job singing anything I wanted to as long as it was lively, and I strung a banjo as the last four strings of a guitar and played it in guitar style only it sounds like a banjo if you put the right emphasis on it. 

Dyer:  Now what are  you doing now, Brent, 1973?

Corson:  Oh…well…I’m working on many things all related to music.  I tune piano’s, I give lessons on a guitar banjo and piano, and I entertain.  I’m currently entertaining at the Steam Donkey in Pinecrest and also have some dreams such as a speech major at Stanislaus State so that I can help people overcome their vocal problems and learn to sing if they want to and on top of all this, I’ve been collecting songs for years and that’s still going on and I think I have about 600 now of all different types and I’m always collecting, always interested to hear a new song or jingle.

Dyer:  Do you have a special interest in the ballads or the jingles of the old west?

Corson:  Well as a matter of fact I do.  A lot of the songs have come directly from the old west because people were on the roam, they were on the move, and when you’re on the roam, sometimes you’re sad, sometimes you’re exceedingly happy, and it gives you that urge that you need to write a song.  I can write a song when I feel something strong emotion, but I can’t write a song when I’m just sitting, relaxing somewhere.  It would be too smooth.  It wouldn’t have any of that conflict that makes a good drama or that makes a good song; and for this reason, there are many good songs written in the old west and they’ve kind of filtered up to us today and they’re still good because people wrote them under emotion. 

Dyer:  Brent, rather than talking about them, why don’t we hear some of the them.

Corson:  That’s fine.  *playing music* (4:21-5:12)
[I came 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,
I've come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee.

Oh I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee,
I’m going to California
My true love for to see;
Now 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,
I've come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee.]

Corson: “Buffalo Gals” was a song you used to dance to in many saloons or just gatherings throughout the old west.  *playing music* (5:25-6:33)

[Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon

As I was walking down the street
Down the street, down the street
A pretty girl I chanced to meet
Oh she was fair to you.

Oh Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon

I danced with a girl with a hole in her stocking
And he knees was a-knockin' and her head kept rockin'
I danced with a girl with a hole in her stocking
And we danced by the light of the moon

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight come out tonight
Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight
And dance by the light of the moon

I asked that gal to be my wife, be my wife, be my wife
I’ll be happy all my life
We’ll dance by the light of the moon

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight woo
Come out tonight woo come out tonight
Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight
And dance by the light of the moon.]

Corson: California Here I Come is more of arousing banjo tune. It was made famous a little bit later, made even more famous by Al Jolson.  *playing music* (6:57-8:11)

[California, here I come
Right back where I started from
Where bowers are flowers bloom in the spring
Each morning at dawning
Birdies sing and everything
A sunny kissed miss says "Don't be late!"
That's why I can hardly wait,
Open up that Golden Gate! 
California, here I come!

California, here I come
Right back where I started from
Where bowers are flowers bloom in the spring
Each morning at dawning
Birdies sing and everything
A sun kissed miss says "Don't be late!"
That's why I can hardly wait,
Open up that Golden, Golden Gate! 
California, here I…California here I…California here I come!]

Corson:  But on the other side of the strong beat that was kept going by guitar, banjo, accordion, sometimes even a brass instrument, and a piano of course were the more sentimental songs.  One of them entitled “I Was Made for Roamin’”  *playing music (8:38-11:19)

[Well I was made for roamin’
I guess I always will
I wonder if it’s greener on the far side of the hill
Way out west there’s an ocean
A miner told me so,
The sun burns so brightly
Melts off the winter snow

But I was made for roamin
And I guess I always will
I wonder if it’s greener on the far side of the hill

Hey Joe, hey look down there
There’s earth and trees and sky
I bet we could be down there battin’ of an eye
Say Joe sometimes I feel so lonely;
Sometimes tired too
Sometimes I’ve seen farmers walking slowly when each day’s through
And I know he’s got a woman
That waits for him each day
And I curse his aching spirit
It’s made me this way.

But I was made for roamin’
I guess I always will
I wonder if it’s greener on the far side of the hill]

Corson:  I’ve been given a song entitled “I Love You California” it’s by F.B. Silverwood and A.F. Frankenstein.  It was written in 1913 and you’ll probably know that it was written in 1913 when you hear the words.  We’ve come a ways in song writing since this song was written.  That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a popular and authentic song in those days and the words are very beautiful.  In fact, they’re some of the most beautiful words I’ve about California and it describes it very well.  *playing music* (12:01-14:35)

 [I love you, California, you're the greatest state of all.
I love you in the winter, summer, spring and in the fall.
I love your fertile valleys; your dear mountains I adore.
I love your grand old ocean and I love her rugged shore.

I love your red-wood forests – love your fields of yellow grain.
I love your summer breezes and I love your winter rain.
I love you, land of flowers; land of honey, fruit and wine.
I love you, California; you have won this heart of mine.

I love your old gray Missions – love your vineyards stretching far.
I love you, California, with your Golden Gate ajar.
I love your purple sun-sets, love your skies of azure blue.
I love you, California; I just can't help loving you.

I love you, Catalina, you are very dear to me.
I love you, Tamalpais, and I love Yosemite.
I love you, Land of Sunshine, half your beauties are untold.
I loved you in my childhood, and I'll love you when I'm old.]

Corson:  And of course we can understand that in the old west, there were certainly going to be some blues and when a man got mad at his captain down on a mining job, woo, sometimes it really broke loose.  Well this song sort of keeps it down to a dull roar, but it breaks loose a little bit.  It’s called “I Told my Captain” I didn’t tell my captain, I told my captain. *playing music* (15:08-17:46)

[Well I told my captain to give me my time
That old captain wouldn’t pay no mine
Told my captain
Told my captain
My hands were cold
Damn your hands, boy
Just take  the wheel and roll!
I raised my hand
Wiped the sweat off my head
The old captain
Damned old captain
Shot my buddy dead
If I’d have my way
Why I’d whoop that captain
‘Til he went stone blind
Buzzards circling above my head
Some old captain
He’s going to be dead
I asked the captain
He better give me my time
The damn old Captain
Doesn’t pay no mind.]

Corson: Sometimes if you had a good day in the Motherlode which is coming to be again the price of gold rising steadily, you might trade beans for steak.  *playing music* (18:09-18:54)

[Hand me down that can of beans
Hand me down that can of beans
Hand me down that can of beans
I’m throwing them away. (Woo)

Out the window go the beans
Out the window go the beans
Out the window go the beans
I had a lucky day

Mary my my Mary
My sweet canary
I’m coming for this evening.

Out the window go the beans
Out the window go the beans
Out the window got the beans
Throwing them away

Out the window go the beans
Out the window go the beans
Out the window go the beans
I had a lucky day.]

Corson:  They had barn dances too.  Where you got out the barn if you could get the door open.  Once you got inside, maybe they’d struck up a tune like Turkey in the Straw. *playing music* (19:15-19:47).  Of course there’s always mining going on.  I understand at one time between the place that is now Columbia Junior College and the city of Columbia there was a mining hole for almost every five-square feet and there were no pine trees.  These pine trees have all grown back as second growth because the miners had to cut them down.  They might have…their roots might’ve been covering nuggets. *playing music* (20:25-22:34)

[Well I woke one morning
It was seven o’clock
There were 16 terriers working on the rock
The boss came along and he said keep still
And bear down harder on the cast iron drill

Oh drill ye terriers, drill
Drill ye terriers, drill
For you work all day
For the sugar in your tea
Down beside the railway

Oh drill ye terriers, drill
Smoke and fire…

The new foreman Big John McCann
My God he was a mighty hard man
One day an immature blast went off
And a mile in the air went Big Jim Goff

Oh drill ye terriers, drill
Drill ye terriers, drill
For you work all day
For sugar in your tea
Down beside the railway

Oh drill ye terriers, drill
Smoke and fire…

Next month’s payday came around
Jim Goff a dollar short was found
He asked what for
Came his reply
You was docked for the time you was up in the sky

Oh drill ye terriers, drill
Drill ye terriers, drill
For you work all day
For the sugar in your tea
Down beside the railway

Oh drill ye terriers, drill
Smoke and fire…]

Corson:  Well it’s been very enjoyable singing for you and if you have any old songs, I’m usually open.  Give me a call, get in touch with me.  We’ll strike up a band and learn it or something like that. *playing music* (22:56-23:36)

END TAPE

General Information

Interviewer:  Richard L. Dyer
Interviewee:  Brent Corson
Name of Tape: Singing ballads from the old west
When: 1973
Transcriber:  Dee-Ann Horn
Transcribed: 6/13/2018