Boy From Oklahoma by Willis Alan Ramsey

Boy from Oklahoma
by Willis Alan Ramsey (Wishbone Music)

Tabs by Casey Carr

         
     D                    G
Travelin’ across the country
     A                    D
playin’ on the circuit line
     D                     Bm
sometimes I think about a man
          E7             A
who was here before my time.
  G                    D
Named for the 28th president
         G                    A
with a Guthrie tacked to the end.
          D       A
born in Okemah shoes
           C         G
with the Dust Bowl blues,
                         D
a friend of the working man.
        D                     G
Now he wasn’t partial to New York buildings
       A                 D
that tried to touch the sky
   D                Bm         E7           A7
West Virginia coal mines that took so many lives
         G                           D
for the way they drove the migrant workers
      G                A
back over into Mexico way.
          D         A
and the scabs they run
            C         G
when they heard he’d come
                           D
and the bosses started to pray.

              
Chorus:
              
        G            A
Just a boy from Oklahoma
       D                 Bm
on an endless one-night stand
  G              A    
wan’drin’ and a-ramblin’
  D                         Bm
driftin’ with the midnight sand.
      G                       A
He played the blues and the ballads
     D               G
and all that came between
     Em
his heart was in the Union
         C                 A
and his soul was reachin’ out
                    D    Am    D
for the servant’s dream.

            D                    G
Now I was talking to a man that met him
      A                   D
in a bar near Clovis town.
    D                          Bm
He said the whole place was a-shakin’
           E7                 A7
as he was passing his songs around.
G                         D
In between the tunes he asked him
           G                   A
where he’d be when the morrow came
    D                A
He said through his grin,
           C           G
I put my thumb in the wind
                             D
and I’m off down the road again.

Chorus:              

        G            A
Just a boy from Oklahoma
       D                  Bm
on an endless one-night stand
   G             A
I wander and I ramble
        D                      Bm
and I drift with the midnight sand.
    G                       A
I play the blues and the ballads
     D                 G
and all that comes between
    Em
my heart is in the Union
        C                A
and my soul is reachin’ out
                    D      Am      D       
for the servant’s dream.

         D                G
Now you know that Woody Guthrie
              A             D
Is dead and buried in the ground
      D                 Bm
Sometimes I sing his songs
              E7                         A7
and I get to thinkin’ that he’s still around.
       G                       D
I’ll hold that his fires everlastin’
  G                              A
Testify that his voice has rung true
          D             A
and the ramblin’ man’s ris’
          C        G
and the kingdom’s his
                              D
but his songs are for me and you.

              
Chorus:

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