Woody Guthrie Goodbye Centralia
It happened an hour ago Way down in this tunnel of coal The gas caught a fire from somebody's lamp And my buddies are choking in smoke.
Dear daddy and mother, Goodbye, Dear sister and brother, Goodbye, My fingers are weak And I cannot write Goodbye Centralia, Goodbye.
It looks like the end for me And all of my partners I see When that work whistle blows and we don't come home Do all that you can to help mom.
I can hear the moans and the groans of more than a hundred good men We're all writing letters to kids that we love Please carry our notes to our wives.
This smoke is choking me down, yes, The fumes are blinding my eyes I see Joe Ballantinni, Fred Gutzler & Joy, Forgive me for things I've done wrong, I love you lots more than you know Just work and fight and fix up these mines so fire can't kill daddies no more.
Please name our new baby Joe So he'll grow up like big Joe And he'll make that old mining boss clean out your mines So fires can't break out here no more.
