(The Great Bum)
I'm a lonesome traveler, The Great Historical Bum. educated from history I have come. I built the Rock of Ages, 'twas in the of One And was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.
I worked in the of Eden, that was the year of two, Joined the apple union, I always paid my due; I'm the man that signed the contract to raise the sun, And was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.
I was boss on the Pyramids, the Tower of Babel, too; I opened up the ocean let the children through, I fought a million battles and I lost a one, And was about the biggest thing that man had ever done.
I beat the daring Roman, I the daring Turk, Defeated Nero's army with minutes work, I fought the leaders and I licked them everyone And that was about the biggest thing man had ever done.
I stopped old Caesar's Romans, and I the Kubla Khan; I but half an hour's work to beat the Pharaoh's bands; I knocked old Bill flat, then I dumped the bloody Huns, And that's about the thing that man has ever done.
I was in the Revolution when we set the free; Me and a couple of Indians dumped the Boston tea; We won the battle at Forge, the battle of Bully Run; And that was about the thing that man has ever done.
Next, we won the slavery war, other folks and me, And every slave from sea to sea was all turned by me. I old Madam slavery, and I wed this freedom dame. And that's about the thing that man has ever done.
And then I took to farming on the great plain, The dust it blowed a years, but never come a rain' Well, me and a million other fellas left on the run And that was about the biggest thing man has ever done.
I the rocky canyon where the Columbia River rolls, the salmon leaping the rapids and the falls The big Coulee Dam in the state of Washington Is just the biggest thing that man has ever done.
There's a in New York that you call the Empire State I rode the rods to 'Frisco to walk the Golden seen every foot of film that Hollywood has run But Coulee is the biggest that man has ever done.
Three times the size of or the highest pyramid Makes the Tower of Babel a for a kid From the rising of the river to the of the sun The Coulee is the biggest thing that man has done.
was a man across the ocean, I guess you knew him well, His name was Adolf Hitler, goddam his soul to We him in the panzers and put him on the run, And that was about the thing that man has ever done.
I'm living my freedom wife in this big land we built; It takes all forty eight for me to spread my quilt. Our kids are several millions now; they run sun to sun. And that's about the biggest thing that man has done.
I mines and mills and factories to run for Uncle Sam; I turned th' ploughs and wheels to feed my soldiers in lands; Nazi job's a tough 'un, it'll take us everyone, 'Cause this is about the thing that man has ever done.
There's warehouse guys and teamsters and guys that the cats Guys run my steel mill, my furnace and my blast We'll stop the Axis rattlesnakes and of old Nippon And that will be the biggest thing man has ever done.
I'd quit my talking, 'cause I told you all I know, But remember, pardner, wherever you may go, The are building a peaceful world, and when the job is done That'll be the biggest that man has ever done.
I better quit my talking I told you all I know, But remember, pardner, wherever you may go, I'm older your old folks, and I'm younger than the young, And I'm about the biggest thing that man has done.