Ramblin' Round

Ramblin' Round
Words and Music Woody Guthrie

As usual Woody strums the chords while picking out bass notes, and also doing various hammer-ons, mainly 0h2 on the A-string when playing the C and G chords.

Capo 2nd fret

             Strum            Strum                    C....
|---------------3-------------0---0--|-----------------0-|
|---------------0-------------1---1--|-----------------1-|
|---------------0-------------0---0--|-0-2-0-----------0-|
|-0-2-0-------0-0---0h2-0h2---2---2--|-------0h2-0h2---2-|
|-------2---2---2-----------3-3-3-3--|---------------3-3-|
|---------3-----3--------------------|-------------------|

C                    G
Ramblin' around your city,
                     C
Ramblin' around your town,
              F
I never see a friend I know
   G              C
As I go ramblin' 'round boys,
   G              C
As I go ramblin' 'round.

My sweetheart and my parents
I left in my old hometown
I'm out to do the best I can
As I go ramblin' round

{Harmonica}

The peach trees they are loaded,
The limbs are bending down,
I pick 'em all day for a dollar boys,
As I go a ramblin' 'round,
As I go a ramblin' 'round.

Sometimes the fruit gets rotten
And falls down on the ground,
There's a hungry mouth for every peach
As I go a ramblin' 'round boys,
As I go a ramblin' 'round.

I wish that I could marry,
I wished I could settle down,
But I can't save a penny boys,
As I go a ramblin' 'round,
As I go a ramblin' 'round.

My mother prayed that I would be
A man of some renown,
But I am just a refugee,
As I go a ramblin' 'round boys,
As I go a ramblin' 'round.

Welcome to WoodyChords!

Welcome to WoodyChords!


What?

This is a repository of all my Woody Guthrie guitar tabs.  This site was inspired by, and to a large extent the design is based on, the excellent DylanChords.com (currently down, thanks to threats of legal action, see the unoffical mirror at dylanchords.info).  It'd be nice to think that one day this site could become the foremost collection of Woody Guthrie tabs, much as DylanChords is for Bob Dylan tabs, although I highly doubt it as I have neither the dedication or skill that the creator of that website has! 

Why

Ever since I discovered Woody Guthrie (I was researching the influences of Bob Dylan at the time!) I have been playing his songs.  I love their simplicity and message, and the general ethos of Woody's music, much as I love early acoustic Bob.  As most people tend to do, I would hear a song I like and search for guitar tabs or chords on google.  The problem with that is you usually come across the big tab sites like ultimate-guitar.com or 911tabs.com.  Now, aside from personal grievances that I have with such sites (both have stolen my tabs in the past), I admit that they have their place.  But unfortunately most of the tabs they list for WG's music are incomplete and largely inaccurate.  They are also faceless!  Unlike such a beautifully organized and cared for  site such as dylanchords.com (did I mention how much I really do like that site??!) the big tab sites are organized and updated by computer algorithms.  I think if Bob deserves such a website then so does Woody.

Who

Well, at the moment, just me.  But I'm hoping that if this site gains any kind of popularity that I can start including tabs that have been submitted.  I don't have the time or patience to tab out every song (probably) so it'd be good to get some help!  Corrections/suggestions/words of encouragement are also likely to spur me on to doing more tabs, so if you like what you've found write some feedback.

Grand Coulee Dam


Grand Coulee Dam
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Columbia River Collection (1988) and The Asch Recordings, Vol.1; This Land Is Your Land (1997)

The song is strummed but with bass notes picked out in a rhythm.  The bass pattern that is played along with each chord goes something like:

 G        C         D
|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|---------|
|---0---0-|---2---2-|-0---0---|
|---------|-3---3---|---0---0-|
|-3---3---|---------|---------|

Intro:
                                                           G.....
|----------------------------|---------------------------|-3-----|
|----------------------------|---------------------------|-0-----|
|----------------------------|---------------------------|-0-----|
|-------------0--------------|---------------------------|-0-----|
|---------0-2----2-0---0-----|---------0-2-0-------------|-2-----|
|-0h3-0h3------------3---0-0-|-0h3-0h3-------0-0-0-0-2-3-|-3-----|

..G

G                                      C
Well, the world has seven wonders that trav'lers always tell,
     D                                              G
Some gardens and some towers, I guess you know them well,
                               C 
But now the greatest wonder in Uncle Sam's fair land,
         D                                            G
It's the king Columbia River and the big Grand Coulee Dam.

She heads up the Canadian Mountains where the rippling waters glide,
Comin'a-rumblin' down the canyon just to meet the salty tide,
Off the wide Pacific Ocean where the sun sets in the West
And the big Grand Coulee country is the land I love the best.

At the Umatilla Rapids, the Dalles and at Cascades
Men have carved a mighty history of the sacfrices made.
In the thundering foaming waters of the big Celilo Falls
In the big grand coulee country I love the best of all.

She winds down the Grand Canyon and bends across the lea,
Like a prancin' dancin' stallion down her sea-way to the sea.
Cast your eyes upon the biggest thing that's built by human hands,
On the king Comlumbia River it's the big Grand Coulee Dam.

In the misty crystal glitter of that wild and windward spray,
Men have fought the pounding waters and have met a watery grave,
Yes it tore their boats to splinters but it gave men dreams to dream
Of the day the Coulee Dam would cross that wild and wasted stream.

There at Bonneville on the river is a green and beautiful sight,
See the Bonneville dam a-risin' in the sun so fair and white.
The big king salmon playing on the ladders and the logs,
A steamboat load of gasoline a whistlin' in the docks.

Uncle Sam took the challenge in the year of 'thrity-three,
For the farmer and the factory and for all of you and me.
He said, "Roll along, Columbia, you can ramble to the sea,
But river, while you ramble, you can do some work for me."

Now in Washington and Oregon you hear the factories hum,
Making chrome and making manganese and light aluminum.
And roaring flying fortress wings her way for Uncle Sam,
Spawned upon the King Columbia by the big Grand Coulee Dam.

Now in Washington and Oregon you hear the factories hum,
Making chrome and making manganese and light aluminum.
And roaring flying fortress wings her way for Uncle Sam,
Spawned upon the King Columbia by the big Grand Coulee Dam.

The Asch Recordings (1997-)




The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1; This Land Is Your Land (1997)
Released 1997
Smithsonian Folkways 


"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
God blessed America for me."



1. This Land Is Your Land
2. Car Song
3. Ramblin’ Round
4. Talking Fishing Blues
5. Philadelphia Lawyer
6. Lindbergh
7. Hobo's Lullaby
8. Pastures of Plenty
9. Grand Coulee Dam
10. End of My Line
11. New York Town
12. Gypsy Davy
13. Jesus Christ
14. This Land Is Your Land (with "No Trespassing" verse)
15. Do Re Mi
16. Jarama Valley
17. The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done
18. Picture From Life’s Other Side
19. Jesse James
20. Talking Hard Work
21. When that Great Ship Went Down
22. Hard, Ain’t It Hard
23. Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
24. I Ain’t Got Nobody
25. Sinking of the Reuben James
26. Why, Oh Why?
27. This Land Is Your Land (reprise)







The Asch Recordings, Vol. 2; Muleskinner Blues (1997)
Released 1997
Smithsonian Folkways

"Woody is just Woody. Thousands of people do not know he has any other name. He is just a voice and a guitar. He sings the songs of a people and I suspect that he is, in a way, that people."
                                                                       



1. Muleskinner Blues
2. Wreck of the Old ‘97
3. Sally Goodin’
4. Little Black Train
5. Who’s Gonna Shoe your Pretty Little feet
6. Baltimore to Washington
7. Rubber Dolly
8. 21 Years
9. Sowing the Mountain
10. Bed on the Floor
11. Take A Whiff on Me
12. Stepstone
13. Put My Little Shoes Away
14. Hen Cackle
15. Poor Boy
16. Stackolee
17. Johnny Hart
18. Worried Man Blues
19. Danville Girl
20. Gambling man
21. Rye Straw
22. Crawdad Song
23. Ida Red
24. Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy
25. Train 45 



The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3; Hard Travelin' (1998)
Released 1998
Smithsonian Folkways

"Life's pretty tough . . . you're lucky if you live through it."







1. Hard Travelin’
2. Farmer-Labor Train
3. Howdjadoo
4. Ship in the Sky
5. I Ain’t Got No Home
6. Mean Talking Blues
7. Better World A-Coming
8. Miss Pavlichenko
9. So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You (WWII version)
10. New Found Land
11. Oregon Trail
12. Vigilante Man
13. 1913 Massacre
14. Talking Columbia
15. Two Good Men
16. Sally, Don’t You Grieve
17. Talking Sailor
18. What Are We Waiting On?
19. Railroad Blues
20. Ludlow Massacre
21. Ladies Auxiliary
22. Miner’s Song
23. When the Yanks Go Marching In
24. Union Maid (excerpt)
25. Rubaiyat (Excerpt)
26. The Many and the Few
27. Hanukkah Dance





The Asch Recordings, Vol. 4; Buffalo Skinners (1999)
Released 1999
Smithsonian Folkways

"Come all you old time cowboys and listen to my song,
Please do not grow weary I'll not detain you long."






1. Ranger’s Command
2. Buffalo Skinners
3. Billy the Kid
4. Cowboy Waltz
5. Pretty Boy Floyd
6. Along in the Sun and the Rain
7. Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Get Along Little Dogies
8. Froggie Went A-Courting
9. Buffalo Gals
10. I Ride An Old Paint
11. Dead or Alive
12. Slipknot
13. Cocaine Blues
14. Go Tell Aunt Rhody
15. Chisholm Trail
16. Stewball
17. Wild Cyclone
18. Train Blues
19. Red River Valley
20. Fastest of Ponies
21. Stewball (w/ Leadbelly and Cisco Houston)
22. Snow deer
23. When the Curfew Blows
24. Little Darling
25. Blowing Down that old Dusty Road
26. Return of Rocky Mountain Slim and Desert Rat Shorty

Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs


Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs (1962)
Released 1962

"Let me be known as just the man that told you something you already knew."
        29 March 1946, quoted in "Walt Whitman and Woody Guthrie






1.Hard Travelin'
2.What Did the Deep Blue Sea Say
3.The Rising Sun Blues
4.Nine Hundred Miles (Instrumental)
5.John Henry
6.Oregon Trail
7.We Shall Be Free
8.Dirty Overhalls
9.Jackhammer Blues
10.Springfield Mountain
11.Brown Eyes
12.The Boll Weevil Blues
13.Guitar Blues (Instrumental)
14.Will You Miss Me?

Immortal: Golden Classics, Pt.2 (1991)


Immortal: Golden Classics, Pt.2 (1991) 
Released 1991

"You may be a bar-room gambler
And cheat your way through life;
You can't cheat that little black train
Or beat this final ride.
"





1.Brown Eyes (With Cisco Houston)   
2.Jack Hammer Blues (With Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry)   
3.John Henry
4.House of the Rising Sun, No. 5   
5.Little Black Train
6.Who's Going to Shoe Your Pretty Feet     
7.Bed on the Floor (With Cisco Houston)     
8.Danville Girl, No. 2 (With Cisco Houston)   
9.Ride Old Paint (With Cisco Houston)

Song of the Coulee Dam

Song of the Coulee Dam
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Columbia River Collection (1988)

Capo fret 3

Intro

 C                      G         C     Way up in that...
|-------------------------1-1------------------|
|---1-1---1-1-------1-1---0-0-----1-1---1-1----|
|---0-0---0-0---0-0-0-0---0-0-----0-0---0-0----|
|---2-2---2-2--2----2-2---0-0---0-2-2---2-2----|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-----3-3---2-2--2--3-3-3-3-3----|
|-----------------------3-3-3-3----------------|

C(fill)

|-----------------------|
|---1-1-----1-------1-1-|
|---0-0-----0-------0-0-|
|---2-2-0h2-2-0h2---2-2-|
|-3-3-3-----------3-3-3-|
|-----------------------|

           F                      C(fill)
Way up in that north west land of the sky.
         G7                  C(fill)
Columbia river's head waters rise.
              F                      C(fill)
Mountains and mountains covered with snow.
                 G7                 C(fill)
I'll follow that river Wherever she goes.

She 92 miles north-West of Spokane,
There you see our Grand Coulee dam.
Grand Coulee dam boys, Grand Coulee dam,
The biggest thing built by the hands of a man.

Winter and Summer,Springtime and fall,
Makes her way down her high canyon walls.
Bright ripplin' waters sparkling so bright,
Seldom you see such a beautiful sight.

Power that sings boys and turbines that whine,
Waters back up to the Canadian line.
400 miles of water will stand.
Rich farms will come from the hot desert sand.

Flood waters lift up the canyon so steep
Making a lake a 100 foot deep.
Waters will roll to the north and the south
Never again be afraid of the drought

Waters will flow with the greatest of ease,
A 100 miles west boys and a 100 miles east.
Factories that work for all of this land
Run on that power from the Grand Coulee Dam.

Ships on the ocean ships in the sky,
Inch after inch her waters will rise.
Pilons on top your mountains and hills,
Running your shops, your factories and mills.

Niagara Falls sends mist to the sky,
But the Grand Coulee Dam boys is just twice as high.
She's 43 hund'erd feet 'cross the top,
Five hundred and fifty down to her rocks.

I'll settle this land boys and I'll work like a man,
I'll water my crops from that Grand Coulee Dam.
Grand Coulee dam boys, Grand Coulee dam,
I wish we had a lot more Grand Coulee dams.

It Takes A Married Man To Sing A Worried Song

It Takes A Married Man To Sing A Worried Song
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Columbia River Collection (1988)

Fingerpicking Pattern (rough!):

C
|-------------------|
|---1-------1-------|
|-----0-------0-----|
|--2---2---2---2----|
|-3-------3---------|
|-------------------|

Actually it sounds more like hybrid-picking than pure fingerpicking.

C C C C7, F F C C7, G G C C

C
Well you single boys can ramble, you single boys can roam,
C
but it takes a married man, boys, to sing a worried song.
           G         C
A married man, a worried song.

Once I used to ramble, and I sung a single song,
Now I'm married, boys, I had to change my tune.
'n a married man he sings a worried song.

I was rough and I was rowdy when I led a single life
But I got to take it easy an' I got myself a wife.
I'm a married man I'm singing a worried song.

I got six kids to feed and educate
It's really got me thinking, not a nickel on this place.
I'm a married man I'm singing a worried song.

I am very happy married and I got to save my dough
we have got six children and expecting several more,
It's a married man, a worried song.

Yes we got six little children, expecting several more
Kids run out like cattle when you open up the door.
I'm a married man I'm a-singing a worried song.

Yes you single boys can ramble and can lead a rowdy life
But you'll have to take it easy when you get yourself a wife
You'll be sing-ing a worried song

You will have a flock of children and have others coming on
It takes a married man, boys, to sing a worried song.
I'm a married man, I know the worried song.

Columbia's Waters


Columbia's Waters
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Columbia River Collection (1988)

Capo 2nd fret

Basic strumming pattern just alternates between picking the root note of the chord and strumming the chord, eg:

 C           
|----0-----0----|
|----1-----1----|
|----0-----0----|
|----2-----2----|
|-3--3--3--3----|
|---------------|

he also throws in plenty of hammer-ons on the A string with the C and G7 chords, and some bass-line walk-up and downs. It's hard to make out if he's playing G or G7 most of the time.. I put it down as G7 becuase I think it sounds better, but G sounds fine too.  The music and lyrics are clearly based on the traditional song "Muleskinner Blues", which Woody also recorded (The Asch Recordings, Vol 2: Muleskinner Blues)

Intro (w/harp) C G C C, C C C C, F F C C, G7 G7 G7 G7, C...

C
“ Good Mooorning, Mister Captain!”, “Good morning, Man!”
F                                            C
I'm just a stranger, travelin' ‘through your land;
      G7
Do y' need a right good worker,
                         C
On your big Grand Coulee dam?

I'd like to settle down but I to ramble all the time,
I'd like to settle down with this wife and kids of mine;
But a place to settle down captain,
Is a pretty hard place to find.

Well I like to work an’ I work every time I can,
I got a callous in the palms of both o' my hands.
Ramblin' around from place to place,
Is hard on a family man.

Well  I like to work, ain’ a gonna beg and steal,
The more I'm a workin' the better it makes me feel.
But my wife and kids get jube-rous,
Everytime they miss a meal.

I'm a hardrock man, an’ I come from a hardrock town,
Back in my home town I was a man of some renown.
When I take a jackhammer down in a hole,
There gonna be some rock come down.

But Columbia River Rolls right down this line.
Columbia's waters taste like sparklin' wine,
But the waters in the Dustbowl,

Taste like picklin' brine.

The money that I draw from workin' on the Coulee dam,
My wife will meet me at the kitchen door stretchin' out her hand.
She'll make a little down payment,
On a forty acre tract of land.

Well We'll farm along this river, work it from sun to sun,
Walk along the river and listen to the factories hum.
I’ll think to myself great,
Look what we done done.

They take some water from the mountain, mix it up with rain,
Take some metal from a mountain and melt it up again.
Stir it up with power from the Grand Coulee dam and you've got aaa,
big fac-tie-ry.

Take some water from the valley, mix it up with snow,
Take a ramblin' family travelin’ down this road.
Mix it up with a-little-bit-of sunshine,
Man, and you ought to see the green things grow.

Standing on the mountains looking out across the sea,
Columbia river’s a mighty pretty sight to see.
Gonna settle down and live the rest o’ my life by the,
C-o-u, l double e.

The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done


The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Columbia River Collection (1988) and The Asch Recordings, Vol 1: This Land Is Your Land (1997)


Capo 2nd fret

{Basic Riff}:

|----------------------------|
|--------------------------1-|
|--------------------------0-|
|-----0-222---0h2p0--------2-|
|-333-------3-------3-2-3--3-|
|----------------------------|

The riff is played as an intro and after each verse (riff varies slightly).

C                        G                C
I'm just a lonesome traveler, The Great Historical Bum.
C
Highly educated from history I have come.
C                      F              C
I built the Rock of Ages, 'twas in the Year of One
C                            G            C     {Riff}
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.

I worked in the Garden of Eden, that was the year of two,
Joined the apple pickers union, I always paid my due;
I'm the man that signed the contract to raise the rising sun,
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.

I was straw boss on the Pyramids, the Tower of Babel, too;
I opened up the ocean let the migrant children through,
I fought a million battles and I never lost a one,
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.

I beat the daring Roman, I beat the daring Turk,
Defeated Nero's army with thirty minutes work,
I fought the greatest leaders and I licked them everyone
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.

I stopped old Caesar's Romans, and I stopped the Kubla Khan;
I took but half an hour's work to beat the Pharaoh's bands;
I knocked old Kaiser Bill flat, then I dumped the bloody Huns,
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

I was in the Revolution when we set the country free;
Me and a couple of Indians that dumped the Boston tea;
We won the battle at Valley Forge, the battle of Bully Run;
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

Next, we won the slavery war, some other folks and me,
And every slave from sea to sea was all turned loose by me.
I divorced old Madam slavery, and I wed this freedom dame.
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

And then I took to farming on the great midwestern plain,
The dust it blowed a hundred years, but never come a rain'
Well, me and a million other fellas left there on the run
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

I clumb the rocky canyon where the Columbia River rolls,
Seen the salmon leaping the rapids and the falls
The big Grand Coulee Dam in the state of Washington
Is just about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

There's a building in New York that you call the Empire State
I rode the rods to 'Frisco to walk the Golden Gate
I've seen every foot of film that Hollywood has run
But Coulee is the biggest thing that man has ever done.

Three times the size of Boulder or the highest pyramid
Makes the Tower of Babel a plaything for a kid
From the rising of the river to the setting of the sun
The Coulee is the biggest thing that man has ever done.

There was a man across the ocean, I guess you knew him well,
His name was Adolf Hitler, goddam his soul to hell;
We kicked him in the panzers and put him on the run,
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

I'm living with my freedom wife in this big land we built;
It takes all forty eight States for me to spread my quilt.
Our kids are several millions now; they run from sun to sun.
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

I built mines and mills and factories to run for Uncle Sam;
I turned th' ploughs and wheels to feed my soldiers in your lands;
This Nazi job's a tough 'un, it'll take us everyone,
'Cause this is about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

There's warehouse guys and teamsters and guys that skin the cats
Guys that run my steel mill, my furnace and my blast
We'll stop the Axis rattlesnakes and thieves of old Nippon
And that will be the biggest thing that man has ever done.

I'd better quit my talking, 'cause I told you all I know,
But please remember, pardner, wherever you may go,
The people are building a peaceful world, and when the job is done
That'll be the biggest thing that man has ever done.

I better quit my talking now; I told you all I know,
But please remember, pardner, wherever you may go,
I'm older than your old folks, and I'm younger than the young,
And I'm about the biggest thing that man has ever done.


Oregon Trail


Oregon Trail
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs (1962), Columbia River Collection (1988) and The Asch Recordings, Volume 3;
Hard Travelin' (1998)


{fill}
  C                G         C
|-------------------------------|
|-1---------1----1---0-----0-1--|
|---2-0-----0----0---0-----0-0--|
|-------2---2-0h2----0-0h2-0-2--|
|---------3------------------3--|
|------------------3------------|

Chords

C:X32010
F:XX321X
G:320001


C                                         F              C
I been a grubbin' on a little farm on the flat and windy plains
                                      G
I been a list'nin to the hungry cattle bawl.
          C
I'm gonna pack my wife and kids,
          F                C
I'm gonna hit that western road.
                          G                 C
I'm gonna hit that Oregon Trail this comin' fall.

              F                                 C
    I'm gonna hit that Oregon Trail this comin' fall,
              G                                 G(7)
    I'm gonna hit that Oregon Trail this coming fall,
               C                
    Where that good rain falls a plenty
              F                  C
    Where the crops and orchards grow
                              G                 C     {fill}
    I'm gonna hit that Oregon Trail this coming fall.


Now, my true love she gets ailin'
When this dry old dust gets sailin'
And she wishes for the days beyond recall
If we work hard there's a future
In that north Pacific land
I'm gonna hit that Oregon trail this comin' fall.

Well my land is dry and cracklin'
and my chickens they're a cacklin'
‘Cause this dirt and dust is getting' in their craw
They been layin' flint rock eggs
I got to bust ‘em with a sledge
I got to hit that Oregon trail this comin' fall.

Yes, my hogs and pigs are squealin'
They're a rockin' and a reelin'
‘Cause there ain't no mud to waller in the draw
I'm gonna grab them by their tails
Take them down that western trail
I'm gonna hit that Oregon trail this comin' fall.

Well, my good old horse in bony
And he's tired and lonsesome too
You can count his ribs three quarters of a mile
Throw my bedroll on his back
Both the bay horse and the black
I'm gonna hit that Oregon trail this comin' fall.

Jackhammer Blues

Jackhammer Blues (aka Jackhammer John)
Words and music Woody Guthrie
Released on Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs (1962), Immortal: Golden Classics, Pt.2 (1991) and an alternate version on Columbia River Collection (1988)



C
I'm a jack hammer man from the jack hammer town
F
Born with a jack hammer in my hand,
C                                 G
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues
C
Jack hammer man from a jack hammer town
F
I hammer on the hammer till the sun goes down
C                  G           C
Oh, Lord, got them jack hammer blues

Hammered on the Bonneville, hammered on the Butte
Columbia river on a ten mile chute
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues
Hammered in the port of Portland Town
I built ev'ry port from Alaska down,
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues

Gonna hammer on the hammer until I get done
Sixty-six and a Highway One
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues
And a jack hammer woman just sweet as pie
Hammer on the hammer till the day I die
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues

Jack hammer man from a jack hammer town
Born with a jack hammer in my hand,
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues
Jack hammer woman just sweet as pie
Hammer on the hammer till the day I die
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues

Well I hammered on the hammer all night long
I hammered for my baby from a-midnight on
Lord, God, I got them jack hammer blues
Jack hammer man sweet as pie
'N' I hammer on the hammer till the day I die
Lord, God, I got them them jack hammer blues

Columbia River Collection version (Jackhammer John)
Capo 2nd fret

Intro Riff
                                                        C..
|----------------|------------------------|-----------------|---------|
|----------------|------------------------|-----------------|---------|
|-----0--2-0-----|------------------------|-----------------|-0-------|
|---2--------0h2-|-0h2-2-2----------------|-----------------|-0h2-2-0-|
|-3--------------|--------3-0-0h3-3-3-0---|-0h3-3-3-0---0-3-|---------|
|----------------|----------------------3-|-----------3-----|---------|

..C     
  Jackhammer John was a jackhammer man,
C
Born with a jackhammer in his hand.                                                     
                                      G  
Lord, Lord And he had them jackhammer blues.
C
I built your roads and buildings too,
C
And I'm gonna build a damn or two.
C                        G      C
Lord, Lord, got them jackhammer blues.


I was borned in Portland town,
Built every port from Alasky down;
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.
Built your bridges, dug your mines,
Been in jail a thousand times.
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.

Jackhammer, jackhammer, where ya been?
Been out a-chasin' them gals again;
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.
Jackhammer man from a jackhammer town,
I can hammer till the sun goes down,
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.

I hammered on the boulder, hammered on the butte,
Columbia River on a five-mile chute;
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.
Workin' on the Bonneville, hammered all night
A-tryin' to bring the people some electric light,
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.

I hammered on Bonneville, Coulee too,
Always broke when my job was through,
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.
I hammered on the river from sun to sun,
Fifteen million salmon run;
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.

I hammered in the rain, I hammered in the dust,
I hammered in the best and I hammered in the worst;
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.
I got a jackhammer gal just as sweet as pie,
And I'm a-gonna hammer till the day I die,
Lord, Lord, well I got them jackhammer blues.

Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)


Dust Bowl Ballads (1940) 
Recorded April, May 1940
Released July 1940 

“California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see, But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot If you ain't got the do re mi”






1. The Great Dust Storm
2. Talking Dust Bowl Blues
3. Pretty Boy Floyd
4. Dusty Old Dust
5. Dust Bowl Blues
6. Blowin' Down the Road (I Ain't Going to Be Treated This Way)
7. Tom Joad, Pt. 1
8. Tom Joad, Pt. 2
9. Do Re Mi
10. Dust Bowl Refugee
11. I Ain't Got No Home
12. Vigilante Man
13. Dust Cain't Kill Me
14. Dust Pneumonia Blues

Columbia River Collection (1988)

Columbia River Collection (1988) 
aka Columbia River Ballads
Recorded: 1941
Released: 1988
 
"I pulled my shoes on and walked out of every one of these Pacific Northwest Mountain towns drawing pictures in my mind and listening to poems and songs and words faster to come and dance in my ears than I could ever get them wrote down."


  1. Oregon Trail
  2. Roll On Columbia
  3. New Found Land
  4. Talking Columbia
  5. Roll Columbia, Roll
  6. Columbia’s Waters
  7. Ramblin’ Blues
  8. It Takes A Married Man To Sing A Worried Song
  9. Hard Travelin’
  10. The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done
  11. Jackhammer Blues
  12. Song of the Coulee Dam
  13. Grand Coulee Dam
  14. Washington Talkin’ Blues
  15. Ramblin’ Round
  16. Pastures of Plenty
  17. End of My Line