11 country songs for "Occupy MN"

Photo courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration

At least we got some rain this year.

​You load 16 tons, whaddya get? Well, you'd be lucky to get a coal mining job these days. Okay, so lucky's perhaps not the most apt word, but plenty of folks would be happy to get one, anyway.

Today, in recognition of the horse muck the folks in power have gotten us stuck in, and in honor of the folks who'll be protesting these folks and this muck downtown come Friday morning as part of "Occupy MN", 11 country songs about bein' down and out, bein' flat broke... and only occasionally, bein' happy in spite of it.

"I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore" - Woody Guthrie (1940)

I ain't got no home, I'm just a-ramblin' round/I'm just a wanderin' worker, I roam from town to town/The police make it hard wherever I may go/And I ain't got no home in this world anymore

"No Depression in Heaven" - Carter Family (1936)

I'm going where there's no depression/To the lovely land that's free from care/I'll leave this world of toil and trouble/My home's in Heaven, I'm going there

"Patches" - Jerry Reed (1981)

Oh, I can still hear Papa's voice sayin'/Patches, I'm dependin' on you son/I've tried to do my best/It's up to you to do the rest

"Coal Miner's Daughter" - Loretta Lynn (1969)

Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner's pay/Mommy scrubbed our clothes on a washboard every day/Why, I seen her fingers bleed, to complain, there was no need/She'd smile in mommy's understanding way

"Sixteen Tons" - Merle Travis (1946)

Some people say a man is made outta mud/A poor man's made outta muscle 'n blood/Muscle an' blood an' skin an' bone/A mind that's weak and a back that's strong/You load sixteen tons an' whaddya get?/Another day older an' deeper in debt/Saint Peter don'tcha call me 'cause I can't go/I owe my soul to the company store

"My Bucket's Got a Hole In It" - Hank Williams (1949)

Yea, my bucket's got a hole in it/Yea, my bucket's got a hole in it/Yea, my bucket's got a hole in it/I can't buy no beer.