Lyrics Talking Dust Bowl - Pete Seeger

Back in nineteen twenty-seven
I had a little farm and I called that heaven
Price's up, the rain come down
I hauled my crops all into town
Got the money, bought cold clothes and groceries
Fed the kids and raised a big family

But the rain's quit and the wind got high
And the black, old dust storm filled the sky
I swapped my farm for a Ford machine
We I poured it full of this gas-i-line
And we started rockin' and rollin'
Down the dusty road to Californi-a

We was goin' down the road
A hot motor and a heavy load
Goin' pretty fast, wasn't even stoppin'
Bouncin' up and down, like popcorn poppin'
Had a bustdown, kind of a nervous breakdown
Mechanic feller charged me ten dollars
Said it was engine trouble

Well, way up yonder, in a piney wood
Way up yonder, on a mountain curve
I gave that little Ford a shove
Thought we'd coast far as we could
Commence coastin'
Pickin' up speed
Hairpin turn
I didn't make it

Man alive, I'm telling you
The fiddles and the 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

Well, we got to ol' Los Angeles broke
So doggone hungry I thought I'd choke
I bummed up a spud or two
My wife cooked up tater stew
We poured the kids full of it
Mighty thin stew, though
You could read a magazine right through it

I always have thought and always have figured
That if that old stew had been a little bit thinner
Some of these here politicians could have seen through it