They were packing up and leaving
When the word came down from Caloma
They arrived in San Francisco on a summer's day
Felt just like the winter
Her father spent every last thing they had
They loaded up the wagon
Pushed on to Sacramento
And beyond
To find the claim that would make them
He shouted out in his dreams
Their luck was surely changing
The gold
Miner's daughter
She was the first born, just 17
And beauty fresh in flower
She wanted everything that this world holds
She grew more restless by the hour
They marked out the claim
They paced out the chain
They began to pan for the colour
It was back in Oklahoma
They left their poor, dead mother
She could hear the pipes and the singing
See their camp fires burning
The gold miner's daughter
The gold
Miner's daughter
The gold
Miner's daughter
John McPhee, John McPhee
His dark eyes keep following me
From Wexford, Galway Bay
John and his brothers came to America
Bring songs of lust
And lust and pain
Echoes from many miles away
Early October and she is gone
The cracked sky won't stop raining
No colour here and everything is wrong
And in the mud his strength is failing
They said she'd gone with John McPhee
Back to San Francisco
The winter's coming and dreams will be broken
In the high sierra snow
And soon he turned to drinking
To ease the pain of his heart breaking
For the gold miner's daughter
The gold
Miner's daughter
The gold
Miner's daughter
The gold
Miner's daughter