Going South

Story Behind The Song

Inspired by reading about the Great Depression while studying American economic history.

Song Description

A song about the Great Depression of the 1930's and about being lucky.

Song Length 3:20 Genre Folk - Rock, Folk - Country
Tempo Medium (111 - 130) Lead Vocal Male Vocal
Mood Cheerful, Sociable Subject Economics, Life
Similar Artists The Byrds, Woody Guthrie Language English
Era 1930 - 1939

Lyrics

Going South

On the back roads of this nation
There's many a wandering man
Many a traveler like me
Oh they never settle down
They roam from town to town
For them the road's the only place to be

Oh Kentucky made me lucky
Virginia made me rich
I saw Bob Dylan down in Memphis Tennessee
In Florida I got paid
I gave it all to Georgia
Carolina made a sinner out of me

They built the bridges and the Dams
The tunnels and the roads
With human hands they cut this new deal
Woody Guthrie wrote their songs
About the dust bowl and the wrongs
Stories of those bad times that were real

Oh Kentucky made me lucky
Virginia made me rich
I saw Bob Dylan down in Memphis Tennessee
In Florida I got paid
I gave it all to Georgia
Carolina made a sinner out of me

In the fall of twenty nine
The Wall came crashing down
To the gold standard we were truly tied
We built the Hoover Dam
We lost a hundred men
Pat Tierney was the last man to die

Oh Kentucky made me lucky
Virginia made me rich
I saw Bob Dylan down in Memphis Tennessee
In Florida I got paid
I gave it all to Georgia
Carolina made a sinner out of me



Michael Hogben © July 2014

reminds me of early Dylan...

I liked this traveling song. I liked the way it was recorded too, very earthy. It had an old school feel to it and told a story. Reminded me of my time in North Carolina and Florida. Heartfelt singing and I love that raw guitar sound.

A real throwback to the simplicity of Woody & Pete...a historical lesson of sorts.

I like the content of this song you, cannot get too many songs about travelling. I reminds me of the old songs from the late 50s and early 60s. Nice concept!

Nice classic folk song. good lyrics. I like that it is kept simple and true to it's roots

Lyrics Michael Hogben Music Michael Hogben
Performance Michael Hogben
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