Now come on boys and listen while I tell
Of the old depression that we all remember well
Oh, the year that it happened, it is when it begun
It was the year nineteen-hundred and thirty-one.
We’d go to the mines we’d half enough to eat
With old rags on our backs and no shoes on our feet
And we go to the office with scrip on our minds
And the scrip writer says, "You're one dollar behind."
Well we used to load coal we loaded it for fun
Oh, we loaded by the acre and it wasn't by the ton
Then we'd go to the scale house to look at our weight
And the scale boss would say that we dumped it over slate.
Oh, depression is gone, I'm glad it is gone
Oh, the year that it happened, nineteen-hundred and thirty-one
Well, the MRA it was made over night
And the big supreme judge he said it wasn't right.
Then Roosevelt stepped in, he was doing his best
He closed all the banks and he gave them a rest
Then he opened them up and he put them on their feet
Saying, "Boys, use your pockets now, your money can't be beat."
Oh, depression is gone, I'm glad it is gone
Oh, the year that it happened, nineteen-hundred and thirty-one,
And the public said, "John L, it can never be done,"
But somehow he got the miners' battle won.
Now, come on, boys, you can give me your hand
You can join the UMW if you want to be a man
Oh, you may be eating now, have a place to sleep,
It won't be so long you'll be kicked out in the street.
Loaded sixteen tons and what did I get?
Just one day older, little more in debt
Depression is gone, I am glad it is gone,
The year that it happened, nineteen-hundred and thirty-one.
credits
Of the old depression that we all remember well
Oh, the year that it happened, it is when it begun
It was the year nineteen-hundred and thirty-one.
We’d go to the mines we’d half enough to eat
With old rags on our backs and no shoes on our feet
And we go to the office with scrip on our minds
And the scrip writer says, "You're one dollar behind."
Well we used to load coal we loaded it for fun
Oh, we loaded by the acre and it wasn't by the ton
Then we'd go to the scale house to look at our weight
And the scale boss would say that we dumped it over slate.
Oh, depression is gone, I'm glad it is gone
Oh, the year that it happened, nineteen-hundred and thirty-one
Well, the MRA it was made over night
And the big supreme judge he said it wasn't right.
Then Roosevelt stepped in, he was doing his best
He closed all the banks and he gave them a rest
Then he opened them up and he put them on their feet
Saying, "Boys, use your pockets now, your money can't be beat."
Oh, depression is gone, I'm glad it is gone
Oh, the year that it happened, nineteen-hundred and thirty-one,
And the public said, "John L, it can never be done,"
But somehow he got the miners' battle won.
Now, come on, boys, you can give me your hand
You can join the UMW if you want to be a man
Oh, you may be eating now, have a place to sleep,
It won't be so long you'll be kicked out in the street.
Loaded sixteen tons and what did I get?
Just one day older, little more in debt
Depression is gone, I am glad it is gone,
The year that it happened, nineteen-hundred and thirty-one.
credits
* UMW: United Mine Workers
** NRA: National Recovery Administration
** NRA: National Recovery Administration
inviata da Pluck - 18/7/2025 - 20:13
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Ed Sturgill was born in Appalachia, Virginia in 1910 and worked as a miner when he was young. This song, which he wrote, addresses many of the mining issues at the time such as cheating done at scales by mine operators (miners were paid by the ton) the illegal use of script for payment and the efforts to organize the UMW*. It was the passage of the NRA ** that secured union representation but, as the song mentions, it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (“and the big Supreme Court judge then he said it wasn’t right”). Sturgill did not get around to record the song until 1964, one year before his death.
'31 Depression Blues - Music from the Depression