Tag: Gold Rush

Love and Loss During the Gold Rush

The Ballad of Black Jack Kelley and Spooner Magee

Location: North Central Louisiana
Period: 1849
Dramatis personae: “Black Jack” Kelley; Spooner Magee; the Stranger.

Jack Kelley (1824-1886) married into the Magee family, marrying Margaret Magee (1824-1896) in 1841. Jack and her brother, Spooner Magee (1826-1902), became best friends and would often go hunting together as well as drinking and getting into a variety of mishaps and adventures.

On the night this song describes, Jack and Spooner were at a local watering hole when Jack offers Spooner the idea of going out to California, this was 1849 when the gold rush was the rage. However, Jack proposed that they not try their luck at gold prospecting, instead to open a general mercantile storefront and sell necessaries to those with a greedier nature. Jack thought it more reliably lucrative, as he says, “fleecing the suckers.”

But while this discussion was taking place, of which Spooner remained unconvinced of the venture, a stranger interrupted them and the night took a somewhat violent and unfortunate detour.

Jack and Spoon never did make it out to California. In fact, the idea was never broached again.

A Day In The Life of Spooner Magee

Location: Northwestern Louisiana, between Monroe and Shreveport.
Period: 1879
Dramatis personae: Spooner Magee (1826-1886); Sally Ann Gray (1863-1954); Jack Kelley (1824-1869).

It’s been ten years since Jack Kelley, Spooner’s brother-in-law and best friend, died. They had shared many adventures and good times, and Spooner missed him sorely. Jack had married Spooner’s sister Margaret, and entered the Magee family as a second son. He and Spooner quickly became great running buddies. But Jack’s nature was more searching, seeking new experiences and driven by an urge to break out of the confines of rural Northwestern Louisiana. As Spooner said, “Oh, he was a rascal for sure.”

This adventurous urge is best typified by Jack’s brainstorm during the Gold Rush for he and Spooner to go out to California and set up a store to sell necessaries to the miners. A plan which was thwarted by an encounter with a sheriff’s deputy in a bar. But, Jack had planted the idea into Spooner’s brain to go out west, and Spooner never really gave up on that dream.

This song describes Spooner, late in life, reminiscing about old times with his best friend, Black Jack Kelley, and still dreaming of California.

The song takes place over the course of one day in 1879 with Spooner in the bar, the Faded Rose, talking to the bartender, Sally Ann Gray. Spooner is trying to convince her to make this far-fetched trip to California until, finally, she decides to do it.

At the end, they made it to the Pacific Ocean.

Sally Ann

Location: San Francisco, California, Monroe, Louisiana
Period: 1886-1954
Dramatis personae: Sam “Spooner” Magee (1826-1886); Sally Ann Gray (1863-1954); Sam “Teaspoon” Magee (1862-1946); Henry Olson Magee (1853-1932).

You wouldn’t know it from her name, but Sally Ann Gray was full-bloodied Sicilian. Her father’s family had anglicized their Italian name of Graziano to Gray upon first emigrating to England in the 17th century, which was quite common. Her mother and father entered America at the port of New Orleans in 1859 shortly after they were married in Cefalu, a town on the northern coast of Sicily.

Sally inherited the immigrant dream of carving out a better life and dreamed of escaping the suffocating small town in northwestern Louisiana where the family ended up, and going west. A common ambition, but in her case, one supplied to her by an older friend of her father’s who filled her head with fancy images of San Francisco.

L’Maison d’Amour

Location: San Francisco
Period: 1879-1886
Dramatis personae: Sally Ann Gray; patrons of brothel.

After Sally Ann and Spooner made it out to San Francisco, Spooner went back to Louisiana after a month or so, but Sally Ann stayed behind.

Initially she got work in a bar/brothel as a bartender, something she had been back home.  The madam, Marie LaBlanc, another Louisiana transplant, took Sally under her wing, and eventually gave her more and more responsibilities until Sally Ann was essentially her second in command.  While she did do some work as a prostitute, early on, over time she maneuvered herself more and more into management and took over upon Marie’s death, who had been killed by an obsessively jealous patron.

Sally spent seven years in San Francisco, and this song describes a typical night in which she verbally spars with a regular customer, who, while she fends of his advances, she acknowledges that he is certainly not the worst kind of man who visits the “house of love”.

Aftermath

 Location: San Francisco, California, Monroe, Louisiana
Period: 1886-1954
Dramatis personae: Sam “Spooner” Magee (1826-1886); Sally Ann Gray (1863-1954); Sam “Teaspoon” Magee (1862-1946); Henry Olson Magee (1853-1932).

Sally Ann Gray had been in San Francisco, the madam of a brothel, for the last seven years, when she gets the news that Spooner Magee has died. Spooner and Sally had come out to California in 1879 on a lark, and Sally just stayed. She comes back home to Louisiana for his funeral, and reconnects with Sam “Teaspoon” Magee, Spooner’s youngest son, whom she knew all through her childhood and high school years.

Sally and Teaspoon end up getting married, having six children, and happily living out their lives in this part of Louisiana. Teaspoon never asked about her life in California, and wouldn’t care in any event.

“A Day in the Life of Spooner Magee”

LOCATION: Northwestern Louisiana, between Monroe and Shreveport.
PERIOD: 1879
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Spooner Magee (1826-1886); Sally Ann Gray (1863-1954); Jack Kelley (1824-1869).

It’s been ten years since Jack Kelley, Spooner’s brother-in-law and best friend, died. They had shared many adventures and good times, and Spooner missed him sorely. Jack had married Spooner’s sister Margaret, and entered the Magee family as a second son. He and Spooner quickly became great running buddies. But Jack’s nature was more searching, seeking new experiences and driven by an urge to break out of the confines of rural Northwestern Louisiana. As Spooner said, “Oh, he was a rascal for sure.”

This adventurous urge is best typified by Jack’s brainstorm during the Gold Rush for he and Spooner to go out to California and set up a store to sell necessaries to the miners. A plan which was thwarted by an encounter with a sheriff’s deputy in a bar. But, Jack had planted the idea into Spooner’s brain to go out west, and Spooner never really gave up on that dream.

This song describes Spooner, late in life, reminiscing about old times with his best friend, Black Jack Kelley, and still dreaming of California.

The song takes place over the course of one day in 1879 with Spooner in the bar, the Faded Rose, talking to the bartender, Sally Ann Gray. Spooner is trying to convince her to make this far-fetched trip to California until, finally, she decides to do it.

At the end, they made it to the Pacific Ocean.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SPOONER MAGEE
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

“My Lord, Sally, you’re as pretty as th’ sunrise.”
“And you’re older than my father.”
“C’mon, now, I’s just tryin’ to be nice.”
“Old man, don’t even bother.”
Spooner met each day with good cheer;
He had high hopes for this new mornin’.
First stop: the Faded Rose and his first beer,
And flirtin’ with that sweet, young darlin’.
 
It’s been ten years since Jack passed on;
Time has passed, but hardly changed a thing.
Since then Spoon’s walked his path alone,
Haunted by a California dream.
“Before I die I’d like to see the ocean;
Stick my toe in it, if I can.
Most days, it’s hard to just get myself in motion.
Then you had to rub it in, callin’ me ‘ol’ man’.”
 
“Sally gal, you’re bigger than this place
You’re bigger than even Shreveport.
C’mon, Sal, we’ll stage a prison break;
Make a run for the golden western shore.
Won’t be easy gettin’ there, but I’ll find a way;
The last great adventure of my life.”
“Ah, Spooner, careful now, watch what you say.
Here; this one’s on me.  An’ jus’ be quiet.”

“Me an’ Jack almost went in ’49,
Long before you were ever born.
Frisco’s changed a lot since that time;
I’ll buy you a dress like you’ve never worn.
Did your daddy tell you stories about Black Jack?
Oh, he was a rascal for sure.”
“Spooner, oughten you be headin’ back,
It’s time for me to cash out an’ lock the door.”
 
“Jack had a plan to get rich in th’ Gold Rush
Said we’d make a fortune clerkin’ a store.
We never staked the cash, not nearly enough.
One day, he jus’ didn’t talk about it no more.”
“Spooner, that must’ve been more’n thirty years ago;
Wishin’ won’t bring those days back.”
“I know, Sally girl,  I surely know;
But those were the days for me an’ Jack.”
 
“Sally Ann, what’s holdin’ you here?
Except for you, there’s nothin’ for me anymore.
If we started now we’d be there in half a year;
No one from here’s done nothin’ like this before.”
“Spooner, I just might take you up on th’ offer;
Leavin’s all I think about some days.”
Standin’ in the tide knee-deep in salt water;
Sally said, “Spoon, I can’t believe those waves.”

Related songs in chronological order:
“Ballad of Black Jack Kelley and Spooner Magee”
“Sally Ann”
“A Day in the Life of Spooner Magee”
“L’Maison d’Amour”
“Aftermath”

© 2023 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“L’Maison d’Amour”

Location: San Francisco
Period: 1879-1886
Dramatis personae: Sally Ann Gray; patrons of brothel.

After Sally Ann and Spooner made it out to San Francisco, Spooner went back to Louisiana after a month or so, but Sally Ann stayed behind.

Initially she got work in a bar/brothel as a bartender, something she had been back home.  The madam, Marie LaBlanc, another Louisiana transplant, took Sally under her wing, and eventually gave her more and more responsibilities until Sally Ann was essentially her second in command.  While she did do some work as a prostitute, early on, over time she maneuvered herself more and more into management and took over upon Marie’s death, who had been killed by an obsessively jealous patron.

Sally spent seven years in San Francisco, and this song describes a typical night in which she verbally spars with a regular customer, who, while she fends of his advances, she acknowledges that he is certainly not the worst kind of man who visits the “house of love”.

L’MAISON D’AMOUR
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

“Sally gal
Come over here
Sit in my lap
Whisper in my ear.
You know I love you,
Like a daughter;
Not like those other fellas,
Who don’t treat you like they oughta.”

“Harvey, get on,
You ol’ pervert;
You don’ smell good,
An ‘ need to change your shirt.
“Sally gal,
You used t’ be so prim ‘n’ proper;
You were as green,
As a grasshopper.”

“Didn’t take you long,
Before you learned th’ ropes;
Now you give us crusty buzzards,
Th’ straight dope;
Sally gal,
Come on ‘n’ sit in my lap.
Aw now, girl,
Don’t look at me like that.”

Next mornin’ now;
Outside a soft grey drizzle.
Sally is wonderin’,
How a dream can fizzle.
No time for that, no, no no;
No second or third thoughts.
Sally don’ waste time,
Dwellin’ on what she lost.

One by one,
Her girls come downstairs,
As usual, complainin’;
Sally silently swears.
She’s still young ‘n’ pretty,
But not a girl no more.
She’s th’ madam now:
L’maison d’amour.

Well, ol’ Harvey,
He ain’ so bad,
Better’n most of ’em;
He makes her laugh.
“Mary, ya’ll get started, and
Wash your coffee cups.
Get yourselves together, b’fore
They start showin’ up.”

CREDITS:
David Leone: guitar, vocal
Tammy Rogers: fiddle

Related songs in chronological order:
“Ballad of Black Jack Kelley and Spooner Magee”
“Sally Ann”
“A Day in the Life of Spooner Magee”
“L’Maison d’Amour”
“Aftermath”

© 2023 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“The Ballad of Black Jack Kelley and Spooner Magee”

LOCATION: North Central Louisiana
PERIOD: 1849
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: “Black” Jack Kelley (1824-1872); Sam “Spooner” Magee (1826-1882); the Stranger.

Jack Kelley (1824-1872) married into the Magee family, marrying Margaret Magee (1824-1896) in 1841. Jack and her brother, Spooner Magee (1826-1882), became best friends and would often go hunting together as well as drinking and getting into a variety of mishaps and adventures.

The Kelleys and Magees were also related through marriage.  Spooner Magee’s mother was Sarah Motts (1805-1890), whose brother Lucas Motts (1792-1822) married Rachel Ross (1799-1877). After Rachel was widowed in 1822 she re-married in 1824 to Stephen Kelley (1797-1866) who was Jack Kelley’s father. So, Spooner and Margaret were half-cousins to Jack, if such a term exists.

On the night this song describes, Jack and Spooner were at a local watering hole when Jack offers Spooner the idea of going out to California, this was 1849 when the gold rush was the rage. However, Jack proposed that they not try their luck at gold prospecting, instead to open a general mercantile storefront and sell necessaries to those with a greedier nature. Jack thought it more reliably lucrative, as he says, “fleecing the suckers.”

But while this discussion was taking place, of which Spooner remained unconvinced of the venture, a stranger interrupted them and the night took a somewhat violent and unfortunate detour.

Jack and Spoon never did make it out to California. In fact, the idea was never broached again.

BALLAD OF BLACK JACK KELLEY AND SPOONER MAGEE
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Black Jack and Spooner; Red Ball Saloon:
“There’s gold in Californy, let’s go, Spoon.”
“Californy is a long way, why not just Shreveport?”
“Cuz there ain’t no gold in Shreveport, just whiskey, an’ whores.”
“Hey bud, come over here, set us up again:
Two whiskeys for me, and a beer for my friend.
Let’s find a table, Spoon, an’ talk some more;
A quiet little corner, there, away from the door.”

“Jack, I dunno, I ain’t grasped it jes’ yet,
It all sounds to me awful far-fetched.”
“Spoon, it’s a simple plan, just grab a’hold;
Those busters jump at any little whisper of gold.
They need their spade and pan to feed the fever dream.
Spoon, we’ll start a store; fleece those suckers clean.
“We won’t do any panning, that’s to much like work.
Won’t get rich as miners, but make a fortune as clerks.”

The Stranger walked in and interrupted them;
He had trouble written all over him.
“Friends, you look like a couple of sportin’ blokes,”
He sat right down and asked, “do you mind if I smoke?”
“Not if you’ll share one of them fine cigars.
What’re you drinkin’? I was jus’ headed to the bar.”
“Whiskey. I couldn’t help but overhear
Your extravagant plan of gettin’ rich on the frontier.”

“Frankly, son, y’all don’t appear to have the grit
To execute your plan and make a go of it.”
“Fella, you sound schooled so you oughta know
You can’t take the measure of a man by the cut of his clothes.”
“Brother, it ain’t your clothes that give you away,
It’s how you been actin’ and little things you say.”
“Well, I’ve had enough of your jawin’; best you move on,
Before I give you some choice words to chew on.”

“Neighbor, you’re foolish and I think you’re crude,
You’re a little off key and need to change your tune.
I don’t tolerate behavior that I find rude.
There’s your words, freshly chewed.”
“Mister, now you’ve gone and made me mad,
An’ I hope fancy words ain’t all you have.”
Jack kicked back his chair and threw two quick jabs.
The Stranger dodged ‘em both and that’s when Jack saw the badge.

Jes ‘bout that time Spooner went for the door
He didn’t look, Jack was with him, he was sure.
When he got home and Jack was nowhere about,
He went down to the jail house and bailed Jack out.
After this, Jack’s gold talk came to an end;
He never spoke of California to Spooner again.
They remained good buddies, despite this interlude;
But, Jack improved his manners and was hardly ever rude.

David Leone: guitar, vocal
Tammy Rogers: fiddle

Related songs in chronological order:
“Ballad of Black Jack Kelley and Spooner Magee”
“Sally Ann”
“A Day in the Life of Spooner Magee”
“L’Maison d’Amour”
“Aftermath”

© 2023 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.