I Got Them Dust Bowl Blues: Wind Erosion

in the Music of the Southern Great Plains

Alexandre Hogue, Drouth Survivors, 1936

Musée National D’Art Moderne, Paris

Jeffrey A. LeeTexas Tech University

Dust Bowl

• 1930s: drought,

depression, and farming

practices led to

devastating dust storms

on the Great Plains

• Worst in the “Dust Bowl”region

Great Plains

How bad was

the Dust Bowl?

• Environmental Disaster: natural

hazard that significantly affects

socio-economic activity; more or

less short term–months or years

• Environmental Catastrophe:

disaster that societies cannot

adapt to–decades or permanent

• 1930s: dust storms seen as a

catastrophic

• After 1930s: recovery, so Dust

Bowl a disaster

• Music lyrics reflect this change in

perspective

Dust Bowl

• Blowing dust still

significant in the

region

• Far less serious a

problem than before

• But, still a major part

of region’s image

Texas Tech University, 2003

So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Ye

–Woody Guthrie

A dust storm hit and it hit like thunder

It dusted us over, and it covered us under

It blocked out the traffic, it blocked out the sun

And straight for home all the people did run singin’

So long, it’s been good to know ye

So long, it’s been good to know ye

So long, it’s been good to know ye

This dusty old dust is a–getting my home

And I’ve got to be driftin’ along

So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Ye

–Woody Guthrie

The sweethearts set in the dark and sparked,

They hugged and kissed in that dusty old dark,

They sighed and cried, and hugged and kissed,

Instead of marriage, they talked like this

So long, it’s been good to know ye

So long, it’s been good to know ye

So long, it’s been good to know ye

This dusty old dust is a-getting our home

And I’ve got to be driftin’ along

Dust Bowl Blues

-Woody Guthrie

I seen the wind so high that it blowed my

fences down,

I've seen the wind so high that it blowed my

fences down,

Buried my tractor six feet underground.

Well, it turned my farm into a pile of sand,

Yes, it turned my farm into a pile of sand,

I had to hit that road with a bottle in my

hand.

Dust Bowl Blues

-Woody Guthrie

I had a gal, and she was young and sweet,

I had a gal, and she was young and sweet,

But a dust storm buried her sixteen hundred feet.

She was a good gal, long, tall and stout,

Yes, she was a good gal, long, tall and stout,

I had to get a steam shovel just to dig my darlin' out.

Dust (Johnny Marvin)

–Roy Rogers

Dust, dust, dust in the skies

Dust on the trail, dust in my eyes

Dust, dust, dust, can’t see the sun

Can’t find my way, the dust has won

Oh Lord, please ease my pain

Oh Lord, where is your rain…and sunshine?

Dust, dust must it be?

Can this be eternity?

Oh Lord, have mercy on poor me

End of Dust Bowl

• But the Dust Bowl wasn’t an environmental

catastrophe

• Rain, conservation methods, and a war economy

brought relative prosperity to the area

• Dust continued in the music, though

Kansas Farm Bureau

Welcome to West TexasThere’s music in the airDust clouds, a tornado or twoNo telling what’s up thereWell the wind outside is howlingCoyotes cry in fearWelcome to West TexasYou’re gonna like it here

You wake up in a dust stormAt noon it starts to rainThe front blows through at

a quarter past twoAt three it’s sunny again

Welcome to West Texas

–Joe Carr and Alan Munde

Welcome to West Texas

–Joe Carr and Alan Munde

Don’t worry ‘bout breathing dust in

Scientific research shows

West Texas dust is so big

That it won’t fit in your nose

Windy Days and Dusty Skies

–Joe Carr and Alan MundeWindy days and dusty skies

Dusty teardrops fill my eyes

You’d better close your windows

When that old West Texas wind blows

I lost my baby in these dusty skies

I woke up in the morning

There were dust clouds in the sky

Found a letter by the window

That only said “Goodbye”

I looked in all directions

But she’s nowhere to be found

Now there’s more dirt in the air

Than there is down on the ground

When Amarillo Blows

–Sonny Curtis

When the wind gets up

You can hear that old Panhandle groan

Kickin’ up dust with a gust

And a Texas moan

But that’s my home…That’s my home

And that’s the way it goes

When Amarillo blows

The Wind’s Gonna Blow You Away

–Butch Hancock

The wind’s gonna blow tomorrow

Just like it blowed today

And someday when your bones turn to dust

The wind’s gonna blow you away

In conclusion…

• 1930s were a defining time for the region and dust storms were a major part; this is reflected in music

• Songs from the 1930s implied the destruction of the region: an environmental catastrophe

• Songs since then treat dust as a nuisance at worst and simply part of our collective consciousness at best

Alexandre Hogue, Drouth Stricken Area, 1934

Dallas Museum of Art

Podcast, with music on iTunes

Or send a note to:

jeff.lee@ttu.edu