The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89352   Message #1686080
Posted By: Bob the Postman
05-Mar-06 - 09:27 PM
Thread Name: refugee and immigration songs
Subject: Lyr Add: PASTURES OF PLENTY (Woody Guthrie)
Guthrie's Pastures Of Plenty is an excellent song on this subject. It uses the same tune as the Appalachian murder ballad Pretty Polly.

PASTURES OF PLENTY
(Woody Guthrie)

It's a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed
My poor feet have traveled a hot dusty road
Out of your Dust Bowl and Westward we rolled
And your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold

I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes
I slept on the ground in the light of the moon
On the edge of the city, you'll see us and then
We come with the dust and we go with the wind

California, Arizona, I harvest your crops
Well its North up to Oregon to gather your hops
Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine
To set on your table your light sparkling wine

Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground
From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down
Every state in the Union us migrants have been
We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win

It's always we rambled, that river and I
All along your green valley, I will work till I die
My land I'll defend with my life if need be
Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free

Copyright Ludlow Music, Inc.