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Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Sold my plow
Kissed Ma goodbye
Left my name on the red barn door
One small trunk and a borrowed Bible
Chasin' tales from a country store
Wagon wheels in the springtime mud
Blistered hands on a hickory rail
Sleepin' cold under torn-up canvas
Countin' stars on the Oregon Trail
[Chorus]
I'm a forty-niner
Rollin' west
With a map of dust across my chest
Trade my past for a pan of stone
Chasin' rivers that cut to the bone
If there's gold where the sunset falls
Let it shine
Let it drown these calls
'Cause a poor man's hope is all I own
On this long road to a stake of my own
[Verse 2]
Buffalo bones and a busted axle
Three days lost in the Platte River fog
Shared my fire with a Kansas preacher
Talked of heaven and a vein in the rock
Letters home that I’ll never answer
Ink runs thin like the coffee grounds
Every mile
One more story
Every grave
One more quiet mound
[Chorus]
I'm a forty-niner
Rollin' west
With a map of dust across my chest
Trade my past for a pan of stone
Chasin' rivers that cut to the bone
If there's gold where the sunset falls
Let it shine
Let it drown these calls
'Cause a poor man's hope is all I own
On this long road to a stake of my own
[Bridge]
Will I strike it rich in some lost ravine (oh Lord)
Or just grow old in this same old dream
If the hills stay silent and the luck runs dry
Bury my name where the Sierra climbs
[Chorus]
I'm a forty-niner
Almost there
Boots worn thin and a thousand-yard stare
Trade my past for a pan of stone
Chasin' rivers that cut to the bone
If there's gold where the daylight ends
Let it rise like a prayer on the wind
'Cause a poor man's hope is all I own
Till I find my shine or I turn back home
Details
GeneratedJan 30, 2026
Duration3:26
LanguageEnglish
Style
Dusty folk ballad with male vocals, fingerpicked acoustic guitar and mournful fiddle. First verse stays sparse with close-mic vocal; chorus brings in stomp, hand percussion, and low harmonies for a trail-song feel. Subtle upright bass and brushed snare enter second verse, fiddle swells into a small, aching bridge. Warm, intimate mix like a campfire performance, building to a rough-hewn singalong at the final chorus.
Credits
Prompt by
Gold_Diggin_Cowboy
Gold_Diggin_CowboyModelAria v5
Prompt
Song about being a 49er during the gold rush in the old west. On the journey west to California to find riches of gold
