On the 14th day of April of 1935,
|
There struck the worst of dust storms that ever filled the sky.
|
You could see that dust storm comin', the cloud looked deathlike black,
|
And through our mighty nation, it left a dreadful track.
|
From Oklahoma City to the Arizona line,
|
Dakota and Nebraska to the lazy Rio Grande,
|
It fell across our city like a curtain of black rolled down,
|
We thought it was our judgement, we thought it was our doom.
|
|
The radio reported, we listened with alarm,
|
The wild and windy actions of this great mysterious storm;
|
From Albuquerque and Clovis, and all New Mexico,
|
They said it was the blackest that ever they had saw.
|
|
From old Dodge City, Kansas, the dust had rung their knell,
|
And a few more comrades sleeping on top of old Boot Hill.
|
From Denver, Colorado, they said it blew so strong,
|
They thought that they could hold out, but they didn't know how long.
|
|
Our relatives were huddled into their oil boom shacks,
|
And the children they was cryin' as it whistled through the cracks.
|
And the family it was crowded into their little room,
|
They thought the world had ended, and they thought it was their doom.
|
|
The storm took place at sundown, it lasted through the night,
|
When we looked out next morning, we saw a terrible sight.
|
We saw outside our window where wheat fields they had grown
|
Was now a rippling ocean of dust the wind had blown.
|
|
It covered up our fences, it covered up our barns,
|
It covered up our tractors in this wild and dusty storm.
|
We loaded our jalopies and piled our families in,
|
We rattled down that highway to never come back again.
|
|
-----------------
|
The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster)
|
Woody Guthrie |