“Saginaw, Michigan” is a 1964 song performed by Lefty Frizzell. The single was Lefty Frizzell’s sixth and final number one on the U.S. country chart. “Saginaw, Michigan” spent a total of twenty-three weeks on the country chart and peaked at number eighty-five on the Billboard Hot 100. The song earned Lefty Frizzell a Grammy nomination.

The song is sung from the point of view of the working-class son of a fisherman from the titular city of Saginaw, Michigan, who falls in love with the daughter of a much wealthier man. The rich man does not believe the singer is worthy of his daughter, so the singer travels north to Alaska in hopes of finding gold. When there is no gold, the singer concocts a ruse upon returning to Saginaw: he tells the wealthy man that he had struck a huge amount of gold and sells the worthless plot to the rich man for him to develop.

The song ends with the bamboozled rich man searching in vain for the gold in Alaska, while his daughter gladly accepts the singer’s hand in marriage.

WIKIPEDIA

Lefty Frizzell – Saginaw Michigan lyrics

I was born in Saginaw, Michigan
I grew up in a house on Saginaw bay
My dad was a poor, hard working Saginaw fisherman
Too many times he came home with too little pay
I loved a girl in Saginaw, Michigan
The daughter of a wealthy, wealthy man
But he called me ‘that son of a Saginaw fisherman’
And not good enough to claim his daughter’s hand
Now I’m up here in Alaska, looking around for gold
Like a crazy fool, I’m digging in this frozen ground so cold
But with each new day, I pray I’ll strike it rich and then
I’ll go back home and claim my love in Saginaw, Michigan
I wrote my love in Saginaw, Michigan
I said “Honey, I’m coming home please wait for me
And you can tell your dad, I’m coming back a richer man
I hit the biggest strike in Klondike history”
Her dad met me in Saginaw, Michigan
He gave me a great big party with champagne
Then he said “Son, you’re wise young ambitious man
Will you sell your father-in-law your Klondike claim?”
Now he’s up there in Alaska, diggin’ in the cold, cold ground
The greedy fool is looking for the gold I never found
It serves him right, and no one here is missing him
Least of all the newlyweds of Saginaw, Michigan
We’re the happiest man and wife in Saginaw, Michigan
He’s ashamed to show his face in Saginaw, Michigan