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.
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.
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