I don't want your millions, Mister / Jim Garland
I think we need to think about what this song says before we get carried away with economic deals like CAFTA.
Folksinger/songwriter/poet
I'm a singer/songwriter who enjoys covering a good song regardless of where it's been.
Story behind the song
Jim Garland was a contemporaty of Woody Guthrie and Heddy "Leadbelly" Leadbetter. He was also one to the troubador union organizers of the Industrial Workers of the World. He suffered from tuberculosis and took refuge at Leadbelly's home.
This song is about the frustration of a man out of work. His master has made a fortune but he is out of a job. The political parties continue their empty rhetoric but he's children are still cold and hungry.
Lyrics
I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.
Now, I don't want your Rolls-Royce, Mister,
I don't want your pleasure yacht.
All I want's just food for my babies,
Give to me my old job back.
We worked to build this country, Mister,
While you enjoyed a life of ease.
You've stolen all that we built, Mister,
Now our children starve and freeze.
So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.
Think me dumb if you wish, Mister,
Call me green, or blue, or red.
This one thing I sure know, Mister,
My hungry babies must be fed.
Take the two old parties, Mister,
No difference in them I can see.
But with a Farmer-Labor Party
We could set the people free.
So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.
