The Unwelcome Guest - Woody Guthrie


    To the rich man's bright lodges I ride in this wind
    On my good horse I call you my shiny Black Bess
    To the playhouse of fortune
    to take the bright silver
    And gold you have taken from somebody else

    As we go riding in the damp foggy midnight
    You snort, my good pony, and you give me your best
    For you know, and I know, good horse,
    'mongst the rich ones
    How oftimes we go there an unwelcome guest

    I've never took food from the widows and orphans
    And never a hard working man I oppressed
    So take your pace easy,
    for home soon like lightning
    We soon will be riding, my shiny Black Bess

    No fat rich man's pony can ever overtake you
    And there's not a rider from the east to the west
    Could hold you a light
    in this dark mist and midnight
    When the potbellied thieves
    chase their unwelcome guest

    I don't know, good horse,
    as we trot in this dark here
    That robbing the rich is for worse or for best
    They take it by stealing and lying and gambling
    And I take it my way, my shiny Black Bess

    I treat horses good and I'm friendly to strangers
    I ride and your running makes my guns talk the best
    And the rangers and deputies
    are hired by the rich man
    To catch me and hang me, my shining Black Bess

    Yes, they'll catch me napping one day
    and they'll kill me
    And then I'll be gone but that won't be my end
    For my guns and my saddle will always be filled
    By unwelcome travellers and other brave men

    And they'll take the money and spread it out equal
    Just like the Bible and the prophets suggest
    But the men that go riding to help these poor workers
    The rich will cut down like an unwelcome guest

    WORDS: Woody Guthrie 1940 - MUSIC: Billy Bragg
     

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