| On Our Way To California!!! |
| By: Jonathan T. |
| Songs & Lyrics in the Dust Bowl by Woody Guthrie |
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| You Okies and Arkies get off the row; You know the C.I.O. Get out of your trailers if you want a raise; We're not fooling around many more days. Come out of the field, boys, and, don't go back in, We've got you out now but about fifty men. I'm telling you, men, times is getting hard, And eighty cent cotton won't buy lard. Tell Mr. John Farmer that we stand in a row, And we're all backed-up by the C.I.O. You eat your beefsteak and farm with machines, And us poor cotton pickers live on beans. |
| You Okies and Arkies |
| This Land is Your Land |
| This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters This land was made for you and me As I went walking that ribbon of highway And saw above me that endless skyway And saw below me the golden valley, I said: This land was made for you and me I roamed and rambled, and followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts And all around me, a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me A sign was painted said: Private Property But on the back side it didn't say nothing This land was made for you and me When the sun came shining, then I was strolling In wheat fields waving, and dust clouds rolling The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting This land was made for you and me One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple By the Relief office I saw my people-- As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if This land was made for you and me |
| Waiting at the Gate |
| Tell the miners' kids and wives, There's a blast in the number five. And the families I see standing at the gate. The inspector years ago said number five's a deadly hole, And the men most likely won't come out alive. Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate. Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole, While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate. The inspector told the boss, it was more than a year ago, You're risking these men's lives in number five. That hole's full of fumes and dust, full of high explosive gas, But the boss said we'll just have to take the chance. Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate. Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole, While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate. Well the men in the number five kissed their wives and kids goodbye, Then they walk with their lunch kits up the hill. Everybody told the owner that this deadly day would come, But he said we had to work to pay our bills. Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate. Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole, While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate. Well I tried to get a look of the face I often know, As the men are carried out wrapped up in sheets. I can hear the church bells ringing for the one hundred eleven dead, I can hear the families weeping in the streets. Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate. Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole, While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate. This explosion struck on Wednesday, and I stood by the gate till Saturday, Till they laid my daddy out with the other men. In the pocket of his shirt I found a little note he wrote, Never go down in a dangerous mine again. Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate. Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole, While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate. |
| To get more lyrics on Woody Guthrie, go to http://thunder.prohosting.com/~wguthrie/lyrics.html |
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| Photo #2 www.themomi.org/museum/ Guthrie/new_york/ Woody Guthrie was an important person in the Dust Bowl Times. This was because the Okies and other people in the Dust Bowl sang his songs during the trip or when they are having the blues. It made many people cheer up and become happy. |