Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done lyrics

Song information

Artist: Woody Guthrie
Album: This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Volume 1

Lyrics

(The great historical bum)

I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum
Highly educated from history I have come
I built the rock of ages, 'twas in the year of one
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done

I worked in the garden of eden, that was the year of two
Joined the apple pickers union, I always paid my due;
I'm the man that signed the contract to raise the rising sun
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done

I was straw boss on the pyramids, the tower of babel, too;
I opened up the ocean let the migrant children through
I fought a million battles and I never lost a one
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done

I beat the daring roman, I beat the daring turk
Defeated nero's army with thirty minutes work
I fought the greatest leaders and I licked them everyone
And that was about the biggest thing that man had ever done

I stopped old caesar's romans, and I stopped the kubla khan;
I took but half an hour's work to beat the pharaoh's bands;
I knocked old kaiser bill flat, then I dumped the bloody huns
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done

I was in the revolution when we set the country free;
Me and a couple of indians that dumped the boston tea;
We won the battle at valley forge, the battle of bully run;
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done

Next, we won the slavery war, some other folks and me
And every slave from sea to sea was all turned loose by me
I divorced old madam slavery, and I wed this freedom dame
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done

And then I took to farming on the great midwestern plain
The dust it blowed a hundred years, but never come a rain'
Well, me and a million other fellas left there on the run
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done

I clumb the rocky canyon where the columbia river rolls
Seen the salmon leaping the rapids and the falls
The big grand coulee dam in the state of washington
Is just about the biggest thing that man has ever done

There's a building in new york that you call the empire state
I rode the rods to 'frisco to walk the golden gate
I've seen every foot of film that hollywood has run
But coulee is the biggest thing that man has ever done

Three times the size of boulder or the highest pyramid
Makes the tower of babel a plaything for a kid
From the rising of the river to the setting of the sun
The coulee is the biggest thing that man has ever done

There was a man across the ocean, I guess you knew him well
His name was adolf hitler, goddam his soul to hell;
We kicked him in the panzers and put him on the run
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done

I'm living with my freedom wife in this big land we built;
It takes all forty eight states for me to spread my quilt
Our kids are several millions now; they run from sun to sun
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done

I built mines and mills and factories to run for uncle sam;
I turned th' ploughs and wheels to feed my soldiers in your lands;
This nazi job's a tough 'un, it'll take us everyone
'Cause this is about the biggest thing that man has ever done

There's warehouse guys and teamsters and guys that skin the cats
Guys that run my steel mill, my furnace and my blast
We'll stop the axis rattlesnakes and thieves of old nippon
And that will be the biggest thing that man has ever done

I'd better quit my talking, 'cause I told you all I know
But please remember, pardner, wherever you may go
The people are building a peaceful world, and when the job is done
That'll be the biggest thing that man has ever done

I better quit my talking now; I told you all I know
But please remember, pardner, wherever you may go
I'm older than your old folks, and I'm younger than the young
And I'm about the biggest thing that man has ever done

[from http://lyrics.doheth.co.uk]

"This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Volume 1" album track list