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ballad of a wobbly - david rovics lyrics

[verse 1]
when i came to this country
left scotland far behind
evicted from the highlands
told to go and find
a new life in america
across the atlantic sea
where i joined the millions
of other refugees
who ended up at ellis island
as the century began
the wretched of the earth
from every foreign land
[verse 2]
when i came to this country
broken and bereft
i quickly saw i’d had been no worse off if i’d never left
such awful deprivations as i’d never had to facе
born by swedes and russians, africans and evеry other race
millions of people trying not to end up dead
from cholera or black lung
or being clubbed on the head

[verse 3]
when i came to this country
to have something on my fork
it was obvious the first thing was to get out of new york
i learned to hop the freight trains
some other stiffs and i
caught a west*bound rattler to give oregon a try
signed up for the logging camps
became a timber beast
if i’d have stayed there any longer
i’d have surely be deceased

[verse 4]
when i came to this country
i worked the copper mines in b*tte
i was a gandy dancer in [?]
and a gandy dancer suit
i heard the rebel girl speak one night in a railway yard
i joined the union right away and got my first red card
became a hobo organiser
for the one big union grand
preaching the wobbly gospel
across this starving land
[instrumental]

[verse 5]
when i came to this country
i soon enough lost track
of the number of times i felt the billy*club upon my back
or how many times i saw the tents
with freezing kids
working in the mines instead of living on the skids
how many times i heard the horrid crying from below
of those trapped there in the dungeons
with nowhere left to go

[verse 6]
when i came to this country
it was a hopeful time of desperation
the red flags flew
all across the nation
but when the war began in europe
we refused to die and k!ll
we refused to fight a bosses war and serve the bosses will
that’s when they got the legion
to burn down our union halls
all across the land
where there used to be four walls
[verse 7]
when i came to this country
i had no great expectations
but i didn’t think i’d end up back here awaiting deportation
on a steamship on the hudson
i watch the sunset fade
with twenty*thousand others swept up in the palmer raids
counting myself lucky that i’m still alive
remembering the moment
that i first arrived

[outro]
when i came to this country
when i came to this country
when i came to this country
when i came to this country

- david rovics lyrics

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