DTStudy: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister

Subject: DT Corr: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mr
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 03:09 AM

On this Trump inauguration day, I'm researching the songs in the "Rich & Poor" chapter of the Rise Up Singing Songbook. Seems fitting.



Here are the lyrics for this song that we have in the Digital Tradition:



I DON"T WANT YOUR MILLIONS, MISTER
(Jim Garland)

cho: I don't want your millions, mister.
    I don't want your diamond ring.
    All I want's just live and let live,
    Give me back my job again.
   (Repeat chorus after each verse)

I don't want your Rolls Royce, mister,
I don't want your pleasure yacht.
All I want is food for my babies,
Now give to me my old job back.

We worked to build this country, mister,
While you enjoyed a life of ease.
You've stolen all that we've built, mister,
Now our children starve and freeze.

Yes, you have a land deed, mister,
The money is all in your name.
But where's the work that you did mister ?
I'm demanding back my job again.

Think me dumb if you wish, mister,
Call me green or blue or red.
There's just one thing that I know, mister,
Our hungry babies must be fed.

We'll organize together, mister,
In one big united band,
And with a Farmer-Labor party
We will win our just demands.

Take the two old parties, mister,
No difference in them I can see.
But with a Farmer-Labor party,
We will set the workers free.

Copyright Stormking Music
@work @labor @political
filename[ MLLIONMR
TUNE FILE: GBDOLLAR
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

I put two verses in italics because I can't figure out where they came from, or if they were actually written by Jim Garland.

Subject: ADD Version: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 03:21 AM

Here are the lyrics from the People's Songbook, edited by Waldemar Hille (©1948, People's Artists - 1956 printing), page 94

I DON'T WANT YOUR MILLIONS, MISTER
(Jim Garland)

CHORUS
I don't want your millions, mister;
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, mister;
Give me back my job again.
   (Repeat chorus after each verse)

I don't want your Rolls Royce, mister;
I don't want your pleasure yacht;
All I want is food for my babies;
Give to me my old job back.

We worked to build this country, mister,
While you enjoyed a life of ease;
You've stolen all that we built, mister;
Now our children starve and freeze.

Think me dumb if you wish, mister,
Call me green, or blue, or red;
This one thing I sure know, mister;
My hungry babies must be fed.

Take the two old parties, mister;
No difference in them I can see,
But with a Farmer-Labor party,
We could set the workers free.

Copyright 1947 by People's Songs, Inc.

Can't say that I think much of the People's Songbook's overuse of semicolons. I don't know yet whether the two additional verses in the Digital Tradition are from Jim Garland.

Subject: ADD Version: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 03:41 AM

Here are the notes and lyrics for the Almanac Singers recording of this song on If You Ain't Got the Do-Re-Mi, a Smithsonian-Folkways compilation CD.

Jim Garland (1905–1978), a coal miner, labor organizer, and composer from eastern Kentucky, composed this song in the 1930s after living through the coal strikes near Harlan, Kentucky, and used the melody of "East Virginia Blues/Dark Holler/Greenback Dollar" (see track 19). Garland came from a family of talented folk song composers, including his sisters Aunt Molly Jackson and Sarah Ogan Gunning. After having been blacklisted from the mines, Garland moved to the Pacific Northwest in the late 1940s. He appeared at the Newport Folk Festival and the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife during the 1960s and 1970s.

I DON'T WANT YOUR MILLIONS, MISTER
(Jim Garland)

I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister.
Give me back my job again.

Now, I don't want your Rolls-Royce, Mister,
I don't want your pleasure yacht.
All I want's just food for my babies.
Give to me my old job back.

We worked to build this country, Mister,
While you enjoyed a life of ease.
You've stolen all that we built, Mister.
Now our children starve and freeze.

So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister.
Give me back my job again.

Think me dumb if you wish, Mister,
Call me green, or blue, or red.
This one thing I sure know, Mister,
My hungry babies must be fed.

Take the two old parties, Mister,
No difference in them I can see.
But with a Farmer-Labor Party
We could set the people free.

So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister.
Give me back my job again.


26. I Don't Want Your Millions
The Almanac Singers, vocals with instrumental accompaniment
(from Talking Union and Other Union Songs Folkways 5285, 1955)

Subject: ADD Version: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 04:18 AM

This version is from Sing Out! Magazine, Vol 30, No. 2, April-May-June 1984, page 50

I DON'T WANT YOUR MILLIONS, MISTER
(Jim Garland)

CHORUS
I don't want your millions, mister;
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, mister;
Give me back my job again.

I don't want your Rolls-Royce, mister;
I don't want your pleasure yacht;
All I want is food for my babies
Give me my old job back.

We worked to build this country, mister;
While you enjoyed a life of ease;
You've stolen all that we built, mister;
Now our children starve and freeze.

Yes, you have a land deed, mister
The money is all in your name
But where's the work that you did, mister?
I'm demanding back my job again.

Think me dumb if you wish, mister;
Call me green or blue or red;
This one thing I sure know, mister:
My hungry babies must be fed.

©1947 People's Songs, Inc.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 04:24 AM

So, Sing Out! does have the land deed verse, and Rise Up Singing has it, too. I wish I could find a source closer to Jim Garland, but I haven't found it....yet.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: DTStudy: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 09:31 AM

The Almanac Singers lyrics above agree with the original issue; "TALKING UNION" Keynote K 303 B (Keynote album 106), July 1941[PETE SEEGER, lead vocal]. according to the website woodyguthrie.de

Greg Brown sings the following lyrics: (nothing new but order changed a bit)

I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

Now, I don't want your Rolls-Royce, Mister,
I don't want your pleasure yacht.
All I want's just food for my babies,
Give to me my old job back.

We worked to build this country, Mister,
While you enjoyed a life of ease.
You've stolen all that we built, Mister,
Now our children starve and freeze.

So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

Think me dumb if you wish, Mister,
Call me green, or blue, or red.
This one thing I sure know, Mister,
My hungry babies must be fed.

Take the two old parties, Mister,
No difference in them I can see.
But with a Farmer-Labor Party
We could set the people free

So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 09:36 AM

Oh, and the lyrics you put in italics in the original post appear in the "Red Song Book".

Subject: RE: DTStudy: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 06:02 PM

Hi, Oldhippie - Which Red Songbook are you talking about? I checked the 1995 IWW Little Red Songbook, along with the Big Red Song Book (Archie Green, et al.), which claims to include all the songs from all the little red songbooks.
I also checked the Big Red Songbook from the UK (Pluto Press, 1981).
Where have I gone astray? It would be nice to document the source of the DT lyrics. I also wonder about the third line of the chorus, which the DT has as "All I want's just live and let live" - haven't found that in any other source.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: DTStudy: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 07:44 PM

This one, Joe. http://www.laborarts.org/exhibits/laborsings/song.cfm?id=1

Subject: ADD Version: I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 08:00 PM

Thanks, oldhippie. These lyrics are a transcription of a 1937 Library of Congress recording by Tillman Cadle
From http://www.laborarts.org/exhibits/laborsings/song.cfm?id=1.

I DON'T WANT YOUR MILLIONS, MISTER
(Jim Garland)

I don't want your millions, mister.
I don't want your diamond rings.
All I want is the right to live, mister.
Give me back my job again.

We work to build this country, mister,
While you enjoy the life of ease.
You've stolen all that we built, mister.
Now our children starve and freeze.

Oh, yes, you have a land deed, mister.
The money all is in your name.
But where's the work that you did, mister?
Demanding back our jobs again.

Think me dumb if you wish, mister.
Call me green or blue or red.
There's just one thing that I know, mister:
Our hungry babies must be fed.

We'll organize to get there, mister.
In one big united band.
With a mighty farmer-labor party,
We will win our just demands.

Take the two old parties, mister.
No difference in them can I see.
But with a farmer-labor party,
We will set the workers free.



Notes: Tillman Cadle (1902-1994) grew up in Kentucky and became a miner and labor organizer before moving to New York City, where he continued his labor organizing. He recorded this version for the Library of Congress in 1937, but never appeared on a commercial record. Jim Garland (1905-1978), half-brother of Aunt Molly Jackson, wrote the song based on "I Was Born in East Virginia" and "Greenback Dollar."