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about

Hadji Ali was hired on as a camel trainer with the U.S. Army in the 1850s. He, and the rest of the American Camel Corps, tried to integrate camels into the southwestern United States to traverse the Mojave Desert. The experiment ultimately failed, but the descendants of those camels are still found in the American west.

Hadji Ali was also known as Hi Jolly, due to mispronunciation. His grave site is in Quartzite, Arizona.

lyrics

Hadji Ali

Me I am a Camel Man, I'm a Syrian, an Ottoman
Came across to the Rio Grande Under orders from Buchanan
He said "Geronimo our Apache Foe, rides the range to Mexico
Further than our horses go, and we think you can change the show"

Chorus:
So call me Hi Jolly Hadji Ali
Man of War in the Camel Corps Riding the Mohave
Hey ho Geronimo What do you think of me?
Just Call me Hi Jolly, Hadji Ali

Fort Mojave to Camp Verde, El Paso to Albuquerque
We packed up our Dromedaries and showed the west our "camelry"
With bales of mail we hit the trail going where the mules failed
After years of that Travail We just couldn't make the sale

Chorus

So We told our camels to vamoose when the army decided to reduce
left Geronimo to his old papoose he and me we called a truce
now out there all around the west you'll find my camels dispossessed
even though I tried my best, I guess you know the rest

credits

from East - West, track released January 12, 2018
by: Martin Gilmore (Timtomtodd music, ASCAP)

Vocals and Guitar: Martin Gilmore
Oud: Eslam Elabaty

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Martin Gilmore Denver, Colorado

Martin Gilmore is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, mandolinist and recording artist from Denver, Colorado. He is an instructor of folk and bluegrass music at the University of Northern Colorado and at Swallow Hill Music Association.

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