The Great Historical Bum

from Repeat the Days by Atlas Fret

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about

The great Woody Guthrie wrote this song in 1941 when he was hired by Bonneville Power Authority to write songs for a documentary film project about the Grand Coulee Dam. His original 17 verses were characteristically epic in scope, spanning everything from the Garden of Eden to World War II. His acknowledgement of great monuments of history is tempered by his greater respect for the workers who built such monuments.

lyrics

I'm just a lonesome traveler, The Great Historical Bum.
Highly educated from history I have come.
I built the Rock of Ages, 'twas in the Year of One
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.

. . .

(by Woody Guthrie; Cromwell Music Inc./Ludlow Music Inc.)

Additional verses by J. Gardner:

I was a hoplite in a phalanx that fought the Persians back
Heavily outnumbered, we weathered the attack
I ran all the way from Marathon with the news that we had won
And that’s about the biggest thing that man has ever done

I built the Colosseum where the gladiators fought
I raced chariots in the Circus and I built the aqueducts
I paved the roads of empire that all lead straight to Rome
And that’s about the biggest thing that man has ever done