1083. Porch Music - Hallelujah I'm a Bum (Harry McClintock) - with Lew Dite

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I don't normally put up more than one song in a day, but right now I'm at Halifax Airport en route to Newfoundland, and the free wifi here is extremely fast, so it's a perfect opportunity to put up more of the songs Lew Dite and I did over the weekend. Who knows when I'll have the chance again?

This is the song we sang together on the famous porch!

Harry McClintock, who recorded this song in 1926, claimed that he wrote it when he was a hobo in 1897 or 98, basing it on a Salvation Army song called "Revive Us Again." He sang the song in an army camp during the Spanish American War, where the soldiers added new verses. Other verses have been added by Carl Sandburg.

McClintock is probably best known for his other hobo song, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain."

Lyrics and chords:
......... E
Oh, why don't you work like the other men do?
......................................... B7
How can I work if the sky is so blue?
........ E
Hallelujah, I'm a bum!
.............................. B7
Hallelujah, bum again.
........ E
Hallelujah, give us a handout
........ A ....... B7 E
To revive us again.

Well, I don't like work and work don't like me.
That is the reason I'm so hungry.

I went to a house. I knocked on the door.
A lady said, "Bum, bum, you've been here before."

I went to a store. I asked for some bread.
The man he came out, said, "The baker is dead."

We'll ride the fast freights and hop the fast mails.
When it's cold in the winter, we'll sleep in the jails.

When springtime has come, oh, won't we have fun?
We'll get out of jail and we'll go on the bum.

You can watch a playlist of my collaborations with YouTube friends:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCi_Xcl2_fAWL2M68MTVfJv3-uDzLJV2N

You can watch a playlist of my songs with Lew Dite here: https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=PL0E3804484CE1E0CC

Lyrics and chords of many of my songs are no longer available, as my website has expired. I am currently posting lyrics to the information panels on all my videos and those that are too long to post in full will be found on my new website: https://raymondsfolkpage.wordpress.com