Originally posted as a "Note" on Facebook on June 13, 2009 : adapted from that material.
“My Oklahoma Home” was written by Agnes and Bill Cunningham, Dust Bowl refugees, in 1965, and published in Broadside
magazine. It has been recorded only a few times and until recently was
rather obscure: the song was first recorded by Pete Seeger, but most
recently strongly popularized by Bruce Springsteen. A great performance of this song from Springsteen’s “Live in Dublin” DVD can be
viewed here:
I developed a new version, having been inspired by my sister Mary Lake and her folk music band in Kansas including it in their concert repertoire. I received the lyrics from her in the mail on June 13, 2009. In the great folk song tradition I adapted and “modified” the lyrics a bit to include an homage to several additional verses published in Broadside in 1967, to fit El Paso’s setting, culture and climate (for example, the Cimarron River is replaced by the Rio Grande, etc.) and work in references to a number of popular songs set in El Paso (can you find them)?
MY OLD EL PASO HOME
Original lyrics by Agnes and Bill Cunningham, adapted and El-Paso-Ized by Tom Gill, June 13, 2009. © Thomas E. Gill, all rights reserved.
When I was discharged from Fort Bliss I was young and full of zip
I wanted to stake me out some land
And so I made a try for some property to buy
And I settled down along the Rio Grande
But It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
My Old El Paso home got blown away
Well my shack looked sturdy there, till it flew into midair
My Old El Paso home, it blowed away
One evening in late June I went down to the saloon
to have me a fandango with my gal
but then there came a gust with its thunder and its dust
and it blew Rosa's Cantina half to hell
She blowed away (blown away), she blowed away (blown away)
My sweet El Paso woman blown away
She was spinning on the floor til she soared right out the door
My sweet El Paso woman blown away
I planted chiles and some beans, got some hens and pecan trees
Cooked ‘em on a mesquite fire, fed my face
Got a mule to pull the plow, and some Texas longhorn cows
And I got a fancy mortgage on the place
Well it blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
All the crops that I had planted, blown away
Well you can't grow much on land when it's blasted by the sand
Everything except my mortgage blown away
It blowed away my chilies and it blowed away my trees
The chickens and cattle went astray
All the crops that I had sowed went a-bouncin’ down the road
My Old El Paso home it blowed away.
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
Everything I owned, it blowed away
I hollered and I cussed when my house the wind upthrust
Yes my Old El Paso home it blowed away
I was left all high and dry listenin’ closely to the sigh
Of the breezes ‘round the splinters of my shack
So I launched on down the road, when the springtime west wind blowed
I traveled with the wind upon my back
I blowed away (blown away), I blowed away (blown away)
Chasin' that dust cloud up ahead
Once it looked so green and fair, now it's up there in the air
All my El Paso land is overhead
I’d be always close to home, wherever I would roam
For Old El Paso dust is everywhere
Makes no difference where I'm walkin', I can hear my chickens squawkin'
I can hear Feleena crying in the air
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
Yeah my Old El Paso home is blown away
But that home is always near, it's up in the atmosphere
My Old El Paso home is blown away
I made me one last stand, came back to that piece of land
I toiled and I raised a brand new shack
But April’s cruel west wind, it done blew it out again
Then the east wind roared around and blew it back.
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blowed away)
My old El Paso home got blown away
a big old supercell blasted it halfway to hell
‘Til it blew back from where it went, next windy day.
Yes I planted once ag'in, but Mother Nature did me in
After I prayed at Cristo Rey and wished for luck
Flash flood from the monsoon left me shriveled like a prune
And my stuff was strewn amidst the mud and muck
Floated away (it flowed away), Floated away (it flowed away)
Yeah, my Old El Paso home got all rained out
First it blew into a dune, now it’s underwater too
My Old El Paso home must be bailed out.
I'm a roamin’ El Pasoan, but I'm always close to home
And I'll never get homesick until I die
Billie Joe and Bobbie Sue said hello as they blew through,
my Old El Paso home is in the sky
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blowed away)
My homestead down along the Rio Grande
But now all around the world, wherever dust is swirled
There's some come from my Old El Paso sand
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
Yeah my Old El Paso home is blown away
Yeah it's up there in the sky, in that dust cloud o’e’r’n' by
My Old El Paso home is blown away
MY OLD EL PASO HOME
Original lyrics by Agnes and Bill Cunningham, adapted and El-Paso-Ized by Tom Gill, June 13, 2009. © Thomas E. Gill, all rights reserved.
When I was discharged from Fort Bliss I was young and full of zip
I wanted to stake me out some land
And so I made a try for some property to buy
And I settled down along the Rio Grande
But It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
My Old El Paso home got blown away
Well my shack looked sturdy there, till it flew into midair
My Old El Paso home, it blowed away
One evening in late June I went down to the saloon
to have me a fandango with my gal
but then there came a gust with its thunder and its dust
and it blew Rosa's Cantina half to hell
She blowed away (blown away), she blowed away (blown away)
My sweet El Paso woman blown away
She was spinning on the floor til she soared right out the door
My sweet El Paso woman blown away
I planted chiles and some beans, got some hens and pecan trees
Cooked ‘em on a mesquite fire, fed my face
Got a mule to pull the plow, and some Texas longhorn cows
And I got a fancy mortgage on the place
Well it blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
All the crops that I had planted, blown away
Well you can't grow much on land when it's blasted by the sand
Everything except my mortgage blown away
It blowed away my chilies and it blowed away my trees
The chickens and cattle went astray
All the crops that I had sowed went a-bouncin’ down the road
My Old El Paso home it blowed away.
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
Everything I owned, it blowed away
I hollered and I cussed when my house the wind upthrust
Yes my Old El Paso home it blowed away
I was left all high and dry listenin’ closely to the sigh
Of the breezes ‘round the splinters of my shack
So I launched on down the road, when the springtime west wind blowed
I traveled with the wind upon my back
I blowed away (blown away), I blowed away (blown away)
Chasin' that dust cloud up ahead
Once it looked so green and fair, now it's up there in the air
All my El Paso land is overhead
I’d be always close to home, wherever I would roam
For Old El Paso dust is everywhere
Makes no difference where I'm walkin', I can hear my chickens squawkin'
I can hear Feleena crying in the air
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
Yeah my Old El Paso home is blown away
But that home is always near, it's up in the atmosphere
My Old El Paso home is blown away
I made me one last stand, came back to that piece of land
I toiled and I raised a brand new shack
But April’s cruel west wind, it done blew it out again
Then the east wind roared around and blew it back.
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blowed away)
My old El Paso home got blown away
a big old supercell blasted it halfway to hell
‘Til it blew back from where it went, next windy day.
Yes I planted once ag'in, but Mother Nature did me in
After I prayed at Cristo Rey and wished for luck
Flash flood from the monsoon left me shriveled like a prune
And my stuff was strewn amidst the mud and muck
Floated away (it flowed away), Floated away (it flowed away)
Yeah, my Old El Paso home got all rained out
First it blew into a dune, now it’s underwater too
My Old El Paso home must be bailed out.
I'm a roamin’ El Pasoan, but I'm always close to home
And I'll never get homesick until I die
Billie Joe and Bobbie Sue said hello as they blew through,
my Old El Paso home is in the sky
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blowed away)
My homestead down along the Rio Grande
But now all around the world, wherever dust is swirled
There's some come from my Old El Paso sand
It blowed away (blown away), it blowed away (blown away)
Yeah my Old El Paso home is blown away
Yeah it's up there in the sky, in that dust cloud o’e’r’n' by
My Old El Paso home is blown away
Dust cloud spreading over Mt. Cristo Rey, late summer 2008. © Thomas E. Gill, all rights reserved.
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