Woody Guthrie (1912 - 1967) was the most important American folk music artist of the first half of the 20th century. Coming out of Oklahoma, Guthrie had firsthand knowledge of the Dust Bowl diaspora chronicled in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. In fact, Guthrie wrote his own version of the story in a song called "Tom Joad." By the time he gained recognition in the '40s, Guthrie had written hundreds of songs, many of which remain folk standards to this day. He was also an author (Bound for Glory) and a newspaper columnist. Guthrie made some recordings for RCA in 1940, but much of his work was issued on the small Folkways label.
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Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues Lyrics
Woody Guthrie
Talking Dust Bowl Blues
(Woody Guthrie)
Back in nineteen twenty seven
I had a little farm and I called it heaven
Prices up and the rain come down
I hauled my crops all into town
Got the money...bought clothes and groceries...
Fed the kids..and raised a big family
But the rain quit and the wind got high
Black old dust storm filled the sky
I traded my farm for a Ford machine
Poured it full of this gas-i-line
And started...rocking and a-rolling
Deserts and mountains...to California
Way up yonder on a mountain road
Hot motor and a heavy load
Going purty fast, wasn't even stopping
Bouncing up and down like popcorn a-popping
Had a breakdown..kind of a nervous bustdown
Mechanic feller there charged me five bucks
And said it was En-gine trouble
Way up yonder on a mountain curve
Way up yonder in a piney wood
I gave that rolling Ford a shove
Gonna coast just fars as I could
Commence a rolling..picking up speed
Come a hairpin turn..and I didn't make it
Man alive, I'm a telling you
The fiddles and guitars really flew
That Ford took off like a flying squirrel
Flew halfway around the world
Scattered wives and children
All over the side of that mountain
Got to California so dad-gum broke
So dad-gum hungry I thought I'd choke
I bummed up a spud or two
Wife fixed up some tater stew
We poured the kids full of it
Looked like a tribe of thy-mometers
arunning around
Lord, man, I swear to you
That was surely mighty thin stew
So damn thin I really mean
You could read a magizine
Right through it..look at the pictures too
Purty whiskey bottles..naked women
Always have thought, always figured
If that damn stew had been a little thinner
Some of these here politicians
Could of seen through it
@hardtimes
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