My name it is Joe Bowers, Ive got a brother Ike Im just here from Missouri, and all the way from Pike Ill tell you why I left there and why I came to roam And leave my aged parents so far away from home I used to court a girl there, her name was Sally Black I asked her if shed marry, she said it was a whack She says to me, Joe Bowers, before weve hitched for life You ought to get a little home to keep your littl wife Says I, My dearest Sally, oh Sally, for your sak Ill go to California and try and raise a stake Says she to me, Joe Bowers, youre just the one to win She gave me a kiss to seal the bargain and throwed a dozen in Ill never forget my feelings when I bid adieu to all Sal she cotched me around the neck, and I began to bawl When I began they all commenced, you never heard the like How they took on and cried and cried the day I left old Pike When I got to this country, I had nary a red I had such wolfish feelings, I wished myself most dead But the thoughts of my dear Sally soon made this feeling git And whispered hope to Bowers Lord, I wish I had em yet At last I went to mining, put in my biggest licks Come down upon the boulders just like a thousand bricks I worked both late and early, in rain, in sun and snow I was working for my Sally, twas all the same to Joe One day I got a letter from my dear brother Ike It came from old Missouri all the way from Pike It taught me the darnedest news that ever you did hear My heart it is abreaking, so please excuse this tear It said my Sal was false to me, that her love for me had fled That she had gotten married to a butcher whose hair was red It told me more than that, its enough to make me swear That Sal had had a baby and the baby had red hair Now I told you everything about this sad sad affair About Sallys marrying the butcher and the baby had red hair But whether it was a boy or girl the letter never said It only said the babys hair was inclined to be red
sally, bower, sal, pike, joe