B E A N S , B A C O N , A N D G R A V Y

A P O P U L A R S O N G

1 9 3 0 S

–––––––––––––––––––––––– Anonymous ––––––––––––––––––––––––

I was born long ago

In eighteen ninety-one,

And I’ve seen many a panic, I will own.

I’ve been hungry, I’ve been cold,

And now I’m growing old,

But the worst I’ve seen is nineteen thirty-one.

Chorus:

Oh, those beans, bacon, and gravy,

They almost drive me crazy!

I eat them till I see them in my dreams.

When I wake up in the morning

And another day is dawning,

Then I know I’ll have another mess of beans.

We all congregate each morning

At the county barn at dawning,

And everyone is happy, so it seems.

But when our work is done

We file in one by one

And thank the Lord for one more mess of beans.

We have Hooverized on butter,

And for milk we’ve only water,

And I haven’t seen a steak in many a day.

As for pies, cakes, and jellies,

We substitute sow-bellies

For which we work the county road each day.

If there ever comes a time

When I have more than a dime,

They will have to put me under lock and key,

For they’ve had me broke so long

I can only sing this song

Of the workers and their misery.