Welcome aboard the World Express. This time we visit America in the time of the Great Depression during the Dirty Thirties .
This song was written by Ed Sturgil of Appalachia, Virginia who cited the coal miner and old-time banjo player, singer, and songwriter Dock Boggs (1898-1971) as an influence on his music.
The Unemployment Rate in 1931 was 15.9% and GDP Growth was -6.4%.
https://www.thebalance.com/unemployment-rate-by-year-3305506
Some more information about the song:
“Singer, a coal miner, tells of hard times in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Miners go to work hungry, ragged and shoeless; when they go to the office for scrip, they're told they're behind and owe the company as the scale boss cheats them of their pay. The National Recovery Act offers hope, but the Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional. Roosevelt declares a bank holiday; John L. Lewis wins the miners' battle; the singer urges listeners to join the U.M.W. (United Mine Workers' Union), saying the Depression is now gone.”
http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/Rc31DB.html
Join us again next time on the World Express!
Lyrics:
Now come on boys and listen while I tell
Oh, the old depression that we all remember well
Oh, the year it happened, is when it begun
The year that it happened Nineteen hundred and thirty one.
When we go to the mine with half enough to eat
With old rags on our backs and no shoes on our feet
And we go to the office with scrip on our minds
And the scrip writer says, "You're one dollar behind."
When we used to load coal we loaded it for fun
Oh, we loaded by the acre and it wasn't by the ton
Then we'd go to the scale house to look at our weight
And the scale boss says that we dumped it over slate.
(banjo solo)
Oh, depression is gone, I am glad it is gone
Oh, the year that it happened, Nineteen hundred and thirty-one
When the NRA it was made over night
And the big supreme judge he said it wasn't right.
Then Roosevelt stepped in, he was doing his best
When he closed all the banks and he gave them a rest
Then he opened them up and he put them on their feet
Says, "Boys, use your pockets now, your money can't be beat."
(banjo solo)
Oh, depression is gone, I am glad it is gone
Oh, the year that it happened, Nineteen hundred and thirty-one,
And the public said, "John L, it can never be done,"
But somehow he got the miners' battle won.
Now, come on, boys, you can give me your hand
You can join the UMW if you want to be a man
Oh, you may be eating now, have a place to sleep,
It won't be so long you'll be kicked out in the street.
For it's 16 tons and what did I get?
Just one day older, little more in debt
Depression is gone, I am glad it is gone,
The year it began, Nineteen hundred and thirty one.
Video Cover Photo: Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone-- National Archives Identifier 541927.This item was produced or created: 2/1931. Courtesy of the National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland.
Copyright 2020 Josiah Wales USA
