Talking Columbia Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Verse 1]
[D][Fm][D]
[G]Whe[D]n Woody Guthrie
left the Dust Bowl,
he went up to the Pacific [C]Northwest
[G]an [D]d made up some songs
about the big government dams
[Em]on the C[D]olumbia River.
This one [G]is in a [D]style
you call the talking blues,
[G]you just talk.[D][G]
[D]
Down by the river,
settin' on a rock,
watchin' all the boats in the Bonneville dock,
the Gate swing open, boat sails in,
she toots a whistle,
she's gone again,
gasoline going up, wheat coming down.
I filled up my hat brim,
took a little taste,
thought of all that water
going to waste.
I thought about the dust,
thought about the sand,
thought about the people,
and I thought about the land.
Folks running [Bb]around all [D]over creation
looking for some little place to
call home.
Fellas back east doing a lot
of talking.
Some of them balking,
some of them squawking.
[G]But with all their figures and all their books,
[D]them boys didn't know
their royal chinook salmon.
Pulled out my pencil,
I scribbled this song.
I figured all them salmon
just couldn't be wrong.
Them salmon fish is pretty shrewd.
You know, they got senators
and politicians too.
Just like the president,
run every four years.
You watch this river,
though, pretty soon,
everybody's going to be
changing their tune.
The big Grand Coulee
and the Bonneville Dam
will run a thousand factories for Uncle Sam,
making everything from fertilizer
to sewing machines [D]an
d plastic.
Everything's going to be plastic.
Uncle Sam needs houses and stuff to eat,
Uncle Sam needs wool,
Uncle Sam needs wheat,
Uncle Sam needs water and power dams,
and Uncle Sam needs people
and the people need land.
Of course, I never did like dictators,
but I think the whole country
ought to be run by electri[D]city.
That's I like to say.
The