Author: Jim

Shafer's Reel

Jim,
Second iteration from same album..


Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

Jim,

Woody Guthrie, Martin Hoffman

The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again

My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.

Chorus:
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

Chorus

The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?

Chorus

¾

Verse:

I IV – I I IV – I
IV I I V – I

Chorus:

IV I V I – I7
IV I I V – I

Farther Along

Jim,

—W.B. Stephens, 1911

Tempted and tried, we're oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long;
While there are others living among us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.

Refrain:
Farther along we'll know all about it,
Farther along we'll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We'll understand it all by and by.

When death has come and taken our loved ones,
Leaving our home so lonely and drear,
Then do we wonder why others prosper,
Living so wicked year after year.

Often I wonder why I must journey,
Over a road so rugged and steep
When there are many living in comfort,
While with the lost I labor and weep.

Soon we will see our dear loving Savior,
Hear the last trumpet sound through the sky;
Then we will meet those gone on before us,
Then we shall know and understand why.

9/8

Verse & Refrain:

I – I – I IV – I – I I – I – I II – V – V
V – I – I IV – I – I I – VIm – VIm V – I – I
Additional verses:

Sometimes I wonder why I must suffer,
Go in the rain, the cold, and the snow,
When there are many living in comfort,
Giving no heed to all that I do.

Tempted and tried, how often we question
Why we must suffer year after year,
Being accused by those of our loved ones,
E'en though we've walked in God's holy fear.

When we see Jesus coming in glory
When he comes from his home in the sky
Then we shall meet him in that bright mansion
We'll understand it all by and by

Faithful till death, said our loving Master;
Short is our time to labor and wait;
Then will our toiling seem to be nothing,
When we pass through that heavenly gate

Melody notation in D here…





Theme Time

Jim,


Josie-O

Jim,


Halfway Pond

Jim,



Honey, You Don't Know My Mind

Jim,

—Jimmy Martin

Honey you don't know my mind I'm lonesome all the time
You're born to lose a drifter, and that's me
You can travel for so long, then a rambler's heart goes wrong
Baby you don't know my mind today

I've heard the music of the rail, slept in every old dirty jail
And life's too short for you to worry me
When I find I can't win I'll be checking out again
Baby you don't know my mind today

Honey you don't know my mind I'm lonesome all the time
And life's too short for you to worry me
You say I'm sweet and kind, well  I can love you a thousand times
Baby you don't know my mind today

Honey you don't know my mind I'm lonesome all the time
I've traveled fast on this hard road you see
I ain't here to judge or plea but to give my poor heart ease
Baby you don't know my mind today

I've been a hobo and a tramp my soul has done been stamped
The things I know I've learnt the hard, hard way
When I find that I can't win I'll be checking out again
Baby you don't know my mind today

Honey you don't know my mind I was born the restless kind
You made it tough let's keep it that way
You're gonna find you were wrong when your lovin' daddy's gone
Baby you don't know my mind today

Verse:

I I – IV V I
I I – IV V I

 


Courtin' Days Waltz

Jim,

Happy Trails

Jim,

—Dale Evans

Verse:
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smiling until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song, and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'til we meet again.

Bridge:
Some trails are happy ones, others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Repeat verse

Verse:

I I I – Vb V
V V V – Ib I
I – I7 IV II – II7 II7 – V
I – I7 IV V I

Bridge:

I I IV IV
V V V I


Kiss Me Waltz

Jim,