Gold Fever

Lyrics

[Intro – spoken, deep gravelly voice] They say gold can make a poor man rich... But they never tell you... What it can do to his soul. [Verse 1] We came up to the Yukon, Our first time coming here, A decision we all made one night, Over cards and drinkin' beer. The six of us, we went for broke, Before we got too old, So we pooled a ton of money, And started mining gold. [Verse 2] We bought ourselves an old machine, And staked a piece of ground, Worked from dawn till darkness fell, But nothin' could be found. Frozen mud and busted hands, Cold enough to kill, But every night we'd raise a glass, And swear we'd strike it still. [Pre-Chorus] Then one cold morning in the dirt, Something caught my eye, A little flash of yellow there, Beneath that northern sky... [Chorus] GOLD FEVER! — running through our veins, GOLD FEVER! — driving men insane, Dig another hole, boys, tear that mountain down, There's a fortune waitin' somewhere underneath this goddamn ground. We came up here hard workers, six men brave and bold, But you don't know the man you'll be... When you finally find that GOLD! [Banjo / harmonica instrumental] [Verse 3] The first few flakes were barely worth, The diesel that we'd burned, But once you've seen that colour boys, There's something that you learn. You stop counting hours, You forget about the cold, Every stone becomes a promise, Every pan might carry gold. [Verse 4] Then Jimmy found a nugget, Biggest one we'd seen, He held it to the setting sun, And watched that nugget gleam. We laughed and slapped him on the back, And whiskey filled our cups, But somewhere in that celebration... The fever followed up. [Chorus] GOLD FEVER! — running through our veins, GOLD FEVER! — driving men insane, Dig another hole, boys, tear that mountain down, There's a fortune waitin' somewhere underneath this goddamn ground. We came here hard workers, six men brave and bold, But you don't know the man you'll be... When you finally find that GOLD! [Verse 5 – darker] Soon no one was laughing, Nobody shared a drink, Every man watched every man, Wondering what he'd think. "That's my cut!" — "No, that's mine!" "You're stealing from the take!" Six old friends who'd shared their lives, Now fighting for the stake. [Verse 6] Winter came down hard that year, The river turned to ice, Six men living side by side, But not one of em' real nice. We'd more gold than we'd dreamed of, Locked beneath the floor, Yet every ounce we pulled from earth... Just made us want some more. [Bridge – slow, stripped back] I remember that night back home, Cards scattered on the table, Six drunken fools with one big dream, Convinced that we were able. If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have finished up my beer... And never chased that yellow curse, All the way up here. [Music builds] [Final Chorus – huge] GOLD FEVER! — running through our veins, GOLD FEVER! — it'll drive a man insane, Dig another hole, boys, tear that mountain down, Spend your whole damn lifetime chasing colour, through that goddamn ground. We came here as workers, Looking for a better road... We found ourselves a fortune... But we lost ourselves to GOLD! [Outro – banjo slows, deep spoken voice] Should've stuck to cards an' beer !