Boy from Oklahoma
by Willis Alan Ramsey (Wishbone Music)
Tabs by Casey Carr
Travelin’ across the country
playin’ on the circuit line
sometimes I think about a man
who was here before my time.
Named for the 28th president
with a Guthrie tacked to the end.
born in Okemah shoes
with the Dust Bowl blues,
a friend of the working man.
Now he wasn’t partial to New York buildings
that tried to touch the sky
West Virginia coal mines that took so many lives
for the way they drove the migrant workers
back over into Mexico way.
and the scabs they run
when they heard he’d come
and the bosses started to pray.
Chorus:
Just a boy from Oklahoma
on an endless one-night stand
wan’drin’ and a-ramblin’
driftin’ with the midnight sand.
He played the blues and the ballads
and all that came between
his heart was in the Union
and his soul was reachin’ out
for the servant’s dream.
Now I was talking to a man that met him
in a bar near Clovis town.
He said the whole place was a-shakin’
as he was passing his songs around.
In between the tunes he asked him
where he’d be when the morrow came
He said through his grin,
I put my thumb in the wind
and I’m off down the road again.
Chorus:
Just a boy from Oklahoma
on an endless one-night stand
I wander and I ramble
and I drift with the midnight sand.
I play the blues and the ballads
and all that comes between
my heart is in the Union
and my soul is reachin’ out
for the servant’s dream.
Now you know that Woody Guthrie
Is dead and buried in the ground
Sometimes I sing his songs
and I get to thinkin’ that he’s still around.
I’ll hold that his fires everlastin’
Testify that his voice has rung true
and the ramblin’ man’s ris’
and the kingdom’s his
but his songs are for me and you.
Chorus: