Another Song for Woody Guthrie
I’d like to sing a song for Woody Guthrie
even though I know it’s all been done before
‘cause I believe some things are worth repeating
and that’s what songs are for
I learned “This land is yours and mine” in grade school
I sang out loud I took your words to heart
but my teachers never said anything about
the verses we leave out
And politicians still live high and mighty
and working folk still struggle to get by
Woody, you sang the truth, but we don’t listen
and I don’t know why
you said to love the land and love the people
to stand for peace, and rights, and union pay
but now it seems the very things you fought for
are what we give away.
And politicians still live high and mighty
and bankers are still dancing on their yachts
and the poor collect the scrapings from their tables
and it’s all they’ve got
now they’d like to hide your words from us forever
but you’re out there singing to us still
they’d like to bury truth under a mountain of lies
but words are hard to kill
But politicians still live high and mighty
and working folk still struggle to get by
they always tell us things are getting better
and they always lie
So I’d like to sing a song for Woody Guthrie
and for Bob, and Joan, and John, and Pete, and Paul,
and for all the other voices who sang to change the world
I want to praise them all.
And so I’ll sing this song for Woody Guthrie
even though I know it’s all been done before
‘cause I believe some things are worth repeating
and that’s what songs are for
Ken Zimmerman (c) 2013
Recent Comments