作曲 : Robert Jay Horton
 My name, it is Joe Bowers.
 I got a brother, Ike;
 I came from old Missouri,
 Yes, all the way from Pike.
 I'll tell you why I left there,
 And how I came to roam,
 To leave my poor old Mammy
 So far away from home.
 I used to love a girl there;
 They call her Sally Black.
 I asked her for to marry me;
 She said it was a whack.
 Says she to me, "Joe Bowers,
 Before we hitch for life,
 You'd ought to have a little home,
 To keep your little wife."
 Says I, "My dearest Sally--
 Oh, Sally, for your sake,
 I'll go to California
 And try to raise a stake."
 Says she to me, "Joe Bowers,
 Oh, ou are the chap to win,
 So give me a kiss to seal the bargain,"
 And I throwed a dozen in.
 I'll never forget my feelings
 When I bid adieu to all.
 Sally, she catched me around the neck,
 And I began to bawl.
 When I set in, they all commenced--
 You've never heard the like,
 The way they all took on and cried
 The day I left old Pike.
 When I got to this here country,
 I hadn't nary a red.
 I had such wolfish feelings,
 I wished myself most dead.
 But the thoughts of my dear Sally
 Soon made them feelings get,
 And whispered hopes to Bowers,
 "Lord, I wish I had them yet."
 Then I went to a-mining
 Put in my biggest licks,
 Came down upon the boulders
 Just like ten thousand bricks;
 I worked both late and early
 In rain and sun and snow,
 I was working for my Sally,
 But it was all the same to Joe.
 I made a very lucky strike,
 As the gold itself did tell,
 And saved for my Sally,
 The girl I loved so well.
 I saved it for my Sally
 That I might ported at her feet
 That she might kiss and hug me
 And call me something sweet
 But one day I got a letter
 From my dear, kind brother Ike.
 It came from old Missouri,
 Yes, all the way from Pike.
 It told me the goldarndest news
 That ever you did hear.
 My heart  is amost a-bursting,
 So pray excuse this tear.
 It said my Sally was fickle.
 Her love for me had fled,
 That she had married with a butcher
 Whose hair was awful red.
 It told me more than that
 It's enough to make one swear
 Said Sally had a baby,
 And the baby had red hair.
 Now, I’ve told you all I could tell you about this sad affair,
 About Sally married a butcher
 and the butcher had red hair,
 Whether it was a boy or gal child
 The letter never said,
 It only says that cursed hair
 was inquired to be red.