4245. Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (by Harry McClintock) - Singalong at Warrnambool

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Another song from our Singalong at Deakin University accommodation in Warrnambool.

Harry McClintock, who recorded this song in 1926, claimed that he wrote it when he was a hobo in 1897 or 98, basing it on a Salvation Army song called "Revive Us Again". He sang the song in an army camp during the Spanish American War, where the soldiers added new verses. Other verses have been added by Carl Sandburg.

McClintock is probably best known for his other hobo song, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain".

Lyrics and chords:
......... E
Oh, why don't I work like other men do?
...................................... B7
How can I work if the skies are so blue?

Chorus:
........ E
Hallelujah, I'm a bum!
............................. B7
Hallelujah, bum again.
................... E
Hallelujah, give us a handout
......... A ........ B7 E
To revive us again.

Well, I don't like work and work don't like me
That is the reason that I'm so hungry.

I went to a house; I knocked on the door.
A lady said, "Bum, bum, you've been here before."

I went to a store. I asked for some bread.
A man he came out, said, "The baker is dead."

We'll ride the fast freight and hop the fast mail.
When it's cold in the winter we'll sleep in your jail.

When springtime has come, oh, won't we have fun?
We'll get out of jail and we'll go on the bum.

I am now posting lyrics to the information panels on all my videos. Any that are too long to post in full will be found on my website: https://raymondsfolkpage.wordpress.com