My Sweet Wyoming Home (Rise Up Singing)

By Bill Staines
Rise Up Singing chapter: Farm and Prairie, p.54

C -F - / G - FG C / - G Am - / Dm G C -
There's a silence on the prairie that a man can't help but feel
There's a shadow growing longer now a-nipping at my heels
I know that soon that old four-lane that runs beneath my wheels
Will take me home to my sweet Wyoming home

I headed down the road last summer with a few old friends of mine
They all hit the money, Lord, I didn't make a dime
The entrance fees they took my dough, the traveling took my time
And I'm headed home to my sweet Wyoming home

C - FEm Dm / G - F C / C - FEm Dm / G - C -
Watch the moon, it's smiling in the sky
And hum a tune, a prairie lullaby
Peaceful wind and old coyote's cry
A song of home, my sweet Wyoming home

F - C - / F Am G -
(bridge) Well the rounders they all wish you luck when they know you're in a jam
But your money's riding on the bull and he don't give a damn

There are shows in all the cities but cities turn your heart to clay
It takes all a man can muster just to try and get away
The songs I'm used to hearing ain't the kind the jukebox plays
And I'm headed home, to my sweet Wyoming home

And now I've always loved the riding, there ain't nothing quite the same
And another year might bring the luck, the winning of the game
But there's a magpie on a fence rail and he's calling out my name
And he calls me home, to my sweet Wyoming home

Oklahoma! (Rise Up Singing)

Oscar and Hammerstein (words by Oscar and Hammerstein II, melody by Richard Rodgers)
Rise Up Singing chapter: Farm and Prairie, p.55

C - - - G - - - / C - F Fm / C A D G (ending 1):// C G C - (ending 2)
Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain
And the waving wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain
Oklahoma, every night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk
Making lazy circles in the sky

F - C - / G D G - / C - - - / D - - - / C E Am D / C G C -
We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say "Yeeow!
A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!"
We're only saying "You're doing fine, Oklahoma
Oklahoma, okay!"

We're Off to See the Wizard (Rise Up Singing)

By E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen
Rise Up Singing chapter: Play, p.178

CG C / CG C / C FG AmD G
F C / FG C / C FG AmD G
Follow the yellow brick road
Follow the yellow brick road
Follow follow follow follow follow the yellow brick road
Follow the rainbow over the stream
Follow the fellow who follows a dream
Follow follow follow follow follow the yellow brick road

CG C DmG C / F GF D7 G / F C DmG C
C EmF G - / GD7 G GD7 G / CG C Dm7G C
We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!
We hear he is a whiz of a wiz if ever a wiz there was
If ever, oh ever a wiz there was, the Wizard of Oz is one because
Because because because because because
Because of the wonderful things he does (whistle)
We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Who Killed Davey Moore?

By Bob Dylan (a Rise Up Singing Project bonus)
Davey Moore was beaten to death in a boxing match by Sugar Ramos.
Probably more than you've ever wanted to know about the life and fighting career of Davey Moore here: http://www.ibroresearch.com/?p=1930
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter used to head this great organization: http://www.aidwyc.org/

Chorus: C F G C / F G C -
Verses: F C G C :// (again and again)

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

"Not I," says the referee
"Don't point your finger at me
I could've stopped it in the eighth
And maybe kept him from his fate
But the crowd would've booed, I'm sure
At not gettin' their money's worth
It's too bad he had to go
But there was a pressure on me too, you know
It wasn't me that made him fall
No, you can't blame me at all"

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

"Not us," says the angry crowd
Whose screams filled the arena loud
"It's too bad he died that night
But we just like to see a fight
We didn't mean for him to meet his death
We just meant to see some sweat
There ain't nothing wrong in that
It wasn't us that made him fall
No, you can't blame us at all"

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

"Not me," says his manager
Puffing on a big cigar
"It's hard to say, it's hard to tell
I always thought that he was well
It's too bad for his wife an' kids he's dead
But if he was sick, he should've said
It wasn't me that made him fall
No, you can't blame me at all"

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

"Not me," says the gambling man
With his ticket stub still in his hand
"It wasn't me that knocked him down
My hands never touched him none
I didn't commit no ugly sin
Anyway, I put money on him to win
It wasn't me that made him fall
No, you can't blame me at all"

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

"Not me," says the boxing writer
Pounding print on his old typewriter
Sayin', "Boxing ain't to blame
There's just as much danger in a football game"
Sayin', "Fistfighting is here to stay
It's just the old American way
It wasn't me that made him fall
No, you can't blame me at all"

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

"Not me," says the man whose fists
Laid him low in a cloud of mist
Who came here from Cuba's door
Where boxing ain't allowed no more
"I hit him, yes, it's true
But that's what I am paid to do
Don't say 'murder,' don't say 'kill'
It was destiny, it was God's will"

Who killed Davey Moore
Why and what's the reason for?

The Ballad of William Worthy

(Rise Up Singing Project bonus) -A song about Cuba and the U.S.A. by Phil Ochs.
William Worthy is a distinguished American journalist well-worth knowing about. Here's a good article on his life's work from the Bates College (his alma mater) website. http://abacus.bates.edu/pubs/mag/95-F...

Verses: C - G CC7 / F - C CC7 / F - C Am / C - G7 CC7 /
Chorus: F - C - / G7 - C CC7 / F - C Am / C - G7 C
I found these chords on UltimateGuitar.com, attributed to someone whose username is Goodbar. I like them, although I don't bother to switch to that C7 every single time you see it.

Lyrics:
Well it's of a brave reporter the story I will tell
He went down to the Cuban land, the nearest place to hell
He'd been there many times before, but now the law does say
That the only way to Cuba is with the CIA

Chorus:
William Worthy isn't worthy to enter our door
Went down to Cuba, he's not American anymore
But somehow it is strange to hear the State Department say
You are living in the free world; in the free world you must stay

Five thousand dollars or a five year sentence may well be
For a man who had the nerve to think that traveling was free
Oh why'd he waste his time to see a dictator's reign
When he could have seen democracy by traveling on to Spain?

So come all you good travellers and fellow-travellers, too
Yes and travel all around the world, see every country through
I'd surely like to come along and see what may be new
But my passport's disappearing as I sing these words to you

Well, there really is no need to travel to these evil lands
Yes, and though the list grows larger you must try to understand
Try hard not to be surprised if someday you should hear
That the whole world is off limits: visit Disneyland this year!

And here's a (long) article titled "William Worthy: The Man and the Mission": http://tinyurl.com/2fpg7pa

Preserven el Parque Elysian

(R.U.S. Bonus): A song by M. Kelian made (relatively) famous by Pete Seeger.
The chords pattern I used was:
D Em / A D / G D / A D
But a more accurate pattern (to Pete Seeger's version), and one that actually, I prefer, is:
D A7 / - D / G D / A7 D

Que lindo el parque Eysian!
Que lindo el parque Eysian!
Que lindo! (Que lindo!), Que lindo! (Que lindo!)
Que lindo el parque Elysian!

El aire es libre amigos
El aire es libre amigos
El aire (el aire) el aire (el aire)
El aire es libre amigos

No queremos fincas en el parque!
(We don't want buildings in the park!)
Queremos el zacate* verde!
(We want the grees grass!)
El parque es suyo y mio!
(The park is yours and mine!)
Los niños necesitan el parque
(The children need the park)
No pasaran los buldozers!
(The bulldozers will not pass!)

I lived in Guadalajara for 5 months, but perhaps surprisingly, the term "zacate" never came up as far as I can remember. Oh well. Here's a glossary of Tapatío terms, including zacate.
http://www.guadalajaraguadalajara.com...
Tapatío is the adjective (etymologically unrelated, of course) for someone and sometimes something from Guadalajara, in the great stae of Jalisco, in the great country of Mexico.

Lay Lady Lay (a bedtime recording)

A little freestyle at 8:46
A Rise Up Singing Project bonus. (That means it's not in the Rise Up Singing songbook, but I'm recording it anyway, because I does what I pleases*)

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed

Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you're the best thing that he's ever seen
Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile

Why wait any longer for the world to begin
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing in front of you

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead


* And if you don't like it, you can hang it in your ear (and write me a comment about it if that feels good, too.)