by Elaine Ernst Schneider
"Sea breeze blowing, boats coming in, I've been waiting, where have they been?"
Peggy Lee queries the status of the sea winds and their effect on the "good catch, good day" in her rendition of the song "Fisherman's Wharf." But Peggy wasn't the first to cast her song upon the San Francisco Bay waters. Since the 1800's, San Francisco Bay has been a port of call and the home of the Pacific whale fishery. Early sea shanty songs such as "Go to Sea No More" mention "Frisco Bay" as a stop for "a whaling ship" where a sailor laments, "me money alas, I spent it fast."
And San Francisco was just the place to do it! A destination of literal gold-diggers, San Francisco picked up pace as fast as the miners picked up gold. In "I Come From Salem City," a get-rich-quick hopeful sings, "I soon shall be in 'Frisco, and there I shall look around, and when I see the gold lumps there, I'll pick them off the ground." Unfortunately, it didn't work quite like that. In fact, pretty much everyone except the miners struck it rich. With the population growing daily, merchants, bankers, and landowners sold their goods at outrageous prices while miners could only sing of their optimistic dreams.
From Boom Town to Metropolis
In 1859, silver replaced gold as the strike-it-rich phenomenon sent panners into the hills once again. This time, the transformation for the city was widespread, as San Francisco became a center for the business of high rollers. Speculators and investors in Parisian-made suits flooded into San Francisco, and the town responded by building splendid hotels and restaurants to house them. It wasn't long before San Francisco was known as a city of romance and dreams. "The loveliness of Paris…and the glory that was Rome (were) forgotten…in the city by the bay," as years before Tony Bennett, visitors were leaving their hearts in San Francisco.
Summertime and the Blues
But hearts aren't the only things left in San Francisco. Buddy Guy's album, Left My Blues in San Francisco, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to San Francisco and the blues. San Francisco, the blues, and summertime seem to be a combination that works again and again, and there are the albums to prove it. Two collections, San Francisco Blues, by Lowell Fulson, and San Francisco Bay Blues, by Jesse Fuller, remind the listener that the "Good Times Roll" and "Crazy Love" are bound to happen in the city of breathtaking views and sea-swept memories.Perhaps the song that best captures the essence of summertime blues is John Phillips' "San Francisco." Written for the Monterey Pop Festival and sung by Phillips' friend Scott McKenzie, "San Francisco," announced the upcoming festival in the spring and was a smash hit by the summer. A sensitive ballad about flowers and "people in motion," the song chronicled the love movement of a "gentle people with flowers in their hair." And the gentle people just kept coming. In their song "Kid Charlemagne," Steely Dan declared that the "San Francisco nights were the best in town … and everyone stopped to stare at the Technicolor motor home." Not long after that, Jimmy Buffett was "heading up to San Francisco for the Labor Day Weekend show … and for glitter rock-n-roll."
Peggy Lee's soft croon in "San Francisco Blues" gently nudges the listener to join her and her baby in seeing the sights of the city by the bay. As astute as a towncryer, although quieter in tone perhaps, she directs attention to "Telegraph Hill, Golden Gate Park … de Young Museum … (and) Chinatown." And when you're done with that, Peggy suggests "Steinhart Aquarium (where there are) lots of fish."
In Sight of Peggy's Sites
Reminiscent of San Franciscan romanticism in the late 1800's, Telegraph and Nob Hills boast extravagant mansions built by the wealthy "nobs" of that period. Perched high above the water, these mansions blend the culture of the past with the ever-present draw of the water.M.H. de Young Memorial Museum is another reminder of the attempt by the cultured to soften San Francisco's wild beginnings. Built by San Francisco Chronicle publisher M.H. De Young, the Golden Gate Park museum is filled with artifacts from Africa, Asia Minor, and early America. Many of John D. Rockefeller III's private collectibles were donated to the museum before his death.
San Francisco's Chinatown is one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia. Bedecked with bright colors, the authentic shops and restaurants make Chinatown a popular and unique tourist attraction.
And Peggy was right to take her baby to the Steinhart Aquarium. More than 14,500 species are a part of ponds and tanks of all sizes. A welcome station for families, adults and children alike can gather twice a day to observe the fish feedings.
The Bridge
Always the symbol of the beautiful and the dreamer, the Golden Gate Bridge still invites the dancer and the investor. In their song "We Built This City," Jefferson Starship "just wants to dance" there as the radio announcer reminds the listening audience to "look out over that Golden Gate Bridge." Perhaps threatened by the influx of a modern dot-com industrial revolution, Million repines "standing on the edge of civilization" with a sad good-bye to the "San Francisco Dream."Historically, good-byes to San Franciscan dreams have served only to invite the concoction of new ones. And the bridge seems to inspire it. Jeannette MacDonald will always be remembered as the girl who stood in the ruins and sang, "San Francisco open your golden gates." As indomitable herself as the spirit of San Francisco, MacDonald's musical reference was to the 1906 earthquake that destroyed a great part of the city, including its central business district. But the city was rebuilt and the gates did open again. In fact, it is said that if a traveler begins the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" at one end of the Golden Gate Bridge and drives the speed limit, the song will end at the exact time he or she reaches the other side.
My City
Rudyard Kipling observed of San Francisco in 1890 that it was "a mad city, inhabited for the most part by perfectly insane people whose women (were) of remarkable beauty." And there are those who might agree with him in an assessment of the city 110 years later. Still filled with "insane" dreamers, the enchantment of San Francisco is perhaps embodied by a population who has never been afraid to change and grow, yet thrives on the commingling of history and modernization.
And just what keeps it all in balance? Perhaps it is the serenity of the bay. Journey sums it up with lyrics from the song "Lights" that express a certain sentiment about the bay. The influence of San Francisco's waters is evident in Journey's desire: "When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay, oh I want to be there in my city."
And there are a lot of folks that agree.
Elaine Ernst Schneider is a freelance writer and music teacher. She has been writing since high school and has published articles, songs, and children's work. Presently, Elaine is a curriculum author for Group Publishing and Managing Editor for www.lessontutor.com.
