In 1977, the Village People had a hit with "San Francisco, You've Got Me."
#TBT: 10 Songs About San Francisco (That Aren't by Tony Bennett), 1850-1977
21 September 2017
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At some point we've all sung along to Scott Mackenzie's hippie anthem, "If You're Going to San Francisco," and to Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," but there are several tunes that pay tribute to our Paris of the West.
Take a listen and learn the lyrics to these other songs about SF. And go ahead, sing along!
"Life in California (Used Up Man)," lyrics by David. G. Robinson, early 1850s
...When I got to San Francisco,
I saw such heaps of money
And the way the folks at monte played, I thought the game
quite funny…
I 'spose if I die, they'd take me to the Mission
Or else the city'd sell me to pay up my physician
▲"Coming Around the Horn (Dearest Mae)," lyrics by John A. Stone, 1854
We arrived in San Francisco, and all went to the mines,
We left an agent back to sell our goods of various kinds;
A friend woke up to let us know our agent, Mr. Gates,
Had sold the ship and cargo, sent the money to the States
▲"Humbug Steamship Companies (Uncle Sam's Farm)," lyrics by John A. Stone, 1854
Then come along, come along, you that want to go,
The best accommodations, and the passage very low;
Our boats they are large enough, don't be afraid,
The Golden Gate is going down to beat the Yankee Blade...
When you start from San Francisco, they treat you like a dog,
The victuals you're compell'd to eat ain't fit to feed a hog;
And a drunken mate a cursing and damning you around,
And wishing that the boat would sink and every one be drowned.
"Hello Frisco! I Called You Up to Say 'Hello,'" lyrics by Gene Buck, 1915
Hello Central, hello Central, can't you see
Kindly hurry, kindly hurry just for me
Please do get me San Francisco
Someone's waiting all alone
Frisco is her name, she's at the Golden Gate…
Hello, Frisco, hello
▲"Got the Date on the Golden Gate," Mel Tormé, 1957
Went for a walk on day alone
Down around the bay
I guess you could say that it was fate
How else could I have met my love
On the Golden Gate?
She strolled along the bridge, and she
Was the cutest pigeon, gee
Did you never palpitate?
Well, you'd have swooned to see her there
On the Golden Gate
I looked into her eyes
And foggy skies were clear
Just when I thought love was here
What a switch
Along came a Cadillac
It stopped and she got in back
Alas and alack, she had a date
I finally found the love I longed for too late
I have no gold and got the gate on the Golden Gate...
"I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco," Carmen McRae, 1967
I'm always drunk in San Francisco
I always stay out of my mind
But if you've been to San Francisco
They say that things like this
Go on all the time
It never happens nowhere else
Maybe it's the air
Can't ever seem to help myself
And what's more I don't care
I'm always drunk in San Francisco
I'm never feeling any pain
But tell me why does San Francisco
Like a lover's kiss go straight to my brain
I guess it's just the mood I'm in
That acts like alcohol
“Let’s Go to San Francisco,” Flower Pot Men, 1967
Let's go (let's go) to San Francisco (let's go to San Francisco)
Where the flowers grow (flowers grow)
So very high (so high)
Sunshine (sunshine) in San Francisco
(Sunshine in San Francisco)
Makes your mind grow up to the sky.
Lots of sunny (lots of) sunny people
Walking hand in hand(walking hand in hand)
Then a (then a) funny people (funny people)
They have found (they have found) their land.
(Let's go to San Francisco)
Let the wind blow right through your hair
Go down (go down) to San Francisco
(Go down to San Francisco)
See the love glow (love glow)
On people's face.
▲"San Francisco Bay Blues," Jesse Fuller, 1968
I got the blues from my baby left me by the San Francisco Bay,
The ocean liner's gone so far away.
Didn't mean to treat her so bad, she was the best girl I ever have had,
She said goodbye, I can take a cry, I want to lay down and die.I ain't got a nickel and I ain't got a lousy dime.
She don't come back, think I'm going to lose my mind.
If she ever gets back to stay, it's going to be another brand new day,
Walking with my baby down by the San Francisco Bay.
"San Francisco," Maxime Le Forestier, 1972
It is a blue house
Adjacent to the hill
We walk there, we do not knock
Those who live there have thrown away the key
We meet together
After years of journey
And one comes to sit around the meal
Everyone is there, at five o'clock in the evening
San Francisco gets foggy
San Francisco lights up
San Francisco, where are you
Liza and Luc, Sylvia, wait for me...
It is a blue house
Hooked to my memory
We walk there, we do not hit
Those who live there have thrown away the key
People with long hair
Large beds and music
Populated with light, and populated by madmen
She will be the last to stand
If San Francisco collapses
If San Francisco collapses
San Francisco! Where are you
Liza and Luc, Sylvia, wait for me
"Mission in the Rain," Jerry Garcia, 1976
...Someone called my name you know I turned around to see
It was midnight in the mission and the bells were not for me
Come again
Walking along in the mission in the rain
Come again
Walking along in the mission in the rain...
All the things I planned to do, I only did half way
Tomorrow will be Sunday, born of rainy Saturday
There's some satisfaction in the San Francisco rain
No matter what comes down, the mission always looks the same
"San Francisco (You've Got Me)," The Village People, 1977
(Folsom), Folsom Street, on the way to (Polk and Castro)
(You don't find them finer)
(Freedom), freedom is in the air, yeah
(Searching for what we all treasure: pleasure)
(Cycles), cycles in the night shining bright
(Brightly on nights tell a glory story)
(Leather), leather, leather, leather baby
(Levi's and T's are the best now all right)
Dress the way you please and put your mind at ease
It's a city known for its freedom, (freedom)
Cycles shining bright break the silence of the night
Inhibitions, no, you don't need them, (no),no,(no)
(San Francisco), San Francisco
(San Francisco), City by the Bay yeah
(San Francisco), he he he he hey
(You've got me)...
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