This Lyric is: #168

GRANDFATHER AND ME

Grandpa played his concertina,
Singing if we go and fight this war
The rich folks just get richer.
That’s what this war is for.

Oh, those Oklahoma farmers,
Picked green corn for their march on Washington.
The working class, opposing the draft,
And corporate use of the gun.

Green corn rebellion
Was sent to Oklahoma jailers.
On the first of July in Boston streets
We were beat up by soldiers and sailors.

Hard times in the city,
Company men coming round,
Mama didn’t come home after work,
Grandpa’s tears were flowing down.

Hard times in the country;
Red scare running wild.
Grandfather left in the middle of the night Carrying a child.

Out to a mountain, Grandfather & me;
Take what you can carry
With a child & your history.

Sacco was a good man. I knew Vanzetti too.
God I never thought when they picked you up, They’d turn the juice on you.

Free speech has no season.
Penalty is up to 20 years.
Union’s another name for treason,
Says the Ministry of Fear.

Out on a mountain, grandfather and me;
Turn every rock and boulder
To feed your family.

Grandpa never lost his humor,
But some days he’d hold his head and cry.
He taught me what life was like to struggle; And sing me to sleep with a lullaby.

Out on a mountain, grandfather and me;
Turn every rock and boulder
To free your family.

Copyright Tom Neilson 1990



[This message has been edited by blakeh (edited 09-01-2002).]