Son of a 49er
by Matt Hopper
Key of A

Well I started out as a desert rat swinging sticks for baseball bats
Got a dog to call our own and when you called she came home
Summer in the Phoenix heat made my dad move his feet and
Pack his bags to head up north where wolves would holler back and forth
Years rolled by one by one and I became an adopted son
Alaska called us to it’s roots where pioneers wore sheep skin boots
Killed the food by their own hands, dressed the kids, sowed the land
Drank all the beer left at Chilkoot Charlies

I am a son, I am a son of a 49er
It’s this feeling that we share it’s the clean air that we breathe
Makes us proud to be so bold

My brothers were good at games, sports and things we stayed up late
Racing our bikes, chopping trees and torching bees with fireworks
Once I caught a baseball hit to my left eye, blackened it
Bruised and blue well I must confess that I got pictures of this mess
The sun would shine all through the night, midnight sun is hella bright
and in the winter darkness fell to some it was heaven to others hell
But I was busy doing things I was good at school and drooling on girls
But my mom raised me right never once did I fistfight
Except one time my ass was about to get kicked and my little brother
Did all the fighting for me, we call him Big Ben

He is a son, he is a son of a 49er
It’s this feeling that we share it’s the clean air that we breathe
Makes us proud to be so bold

Well my mother, bless her heart, raised us up to healthy start
With homecooked meals and lots of love, never pushed when it came to shove
Taught us all that she did know then at 18 it was time to go
Taught me how to cook and clean, wash my clothes and pick up things
And open doors for pretty girls, notice when they had new colored curls
Thanks ma, girls seem to like me now

She is a daughter, she is a daughter of a 49er
It’s this feeling that we share it’s the clean air that we breathe
Makes us proud to be so bold

My Dad has a lot of scars from hunting things and fixing cars
On our walls two bear rugs, black and brown, looking smug
Once I went to Kodiak and fell into a bear attack
And I got this scar on my neck from a paw so big it hurt like a wreck
But my dad shot him in the heart, my was stopped but soon did start
and that bear went down on wounded knee and on our wall for all to see

(now I don’t like killing animals if I don’t have to, but sometimes you just gotta eat moose meat)

He is a son, he is a son of a 49er
It’s this feeling that we share it’s the clean air that we breathe
Makes us proud to be so bold

This song is dedicated in the loving memory of my friend Aaron Tanner, who lost his life during the making of this record. RIP.