Boy from Oklahoma
by Willis Alan Ramsey (Wishbone Music)
Tabs by Casey Carr
Travelinâ across the country
playinâ 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 wasnât 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 heâd come
and the bosses started to pray.
Chorus:
Just a boy from Oklahoma
on an endless one-night stand
wanâdrinâ and a-ramblinâ
driftinâ 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 reachinâ out
for the servantâs dream.
Now I was talking to a man that met him
in a bar near Clovis town.
He said the whole place was a-shakinâ
as he was passing his songs around.
In between the tunes he asked him
where heâd be when the morrow came
He said through his grin,
I put my thumb in the wind
and Iâm 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 reachinâ out
for the servantâs dream.
Now you know that Woody Guthrie
Is dead and buried in the ground
Sometimes I sing his songs
and I get to thinkinâ that heâs still around.
Iâll hold that his fires everlastinâ
Testify that his voice has rung true
and the ramblinâ manâs risâ
and the kingdomâs his
but his songs are for me and you.
Chorus: