The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster) lyrics

Song information

Artist: Woody Guthrie
Album: Dust Bowl Ballads (Rounder Records)

Lyrics

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