Dear Mr President - Woody Guthrie

Dear Mr. President, I set me down

To send you greetings from my home town

And send you best wishes from all the friends I know

In Texas, Alabama, Ohio

And affiliated places.

Brooklyn, Mississippi

I’m an ordinary guy, worked most of my life

Sometime I’ll settle down with my kids and wife

And I like to see a movie or take a little drink

I like being free to say what I think

Sort of runs in the family…

My grandpa crossed the ocean for the same reason

Now I hate Hitler and I can tell you why

He’s caused lots of good folks to suffer and die

He’s got a way of shoving folks around

I figure it’s about time we slapped him down

Give him a dose of his own medicine…

Lead poisoning

Now Mr. President, we haven’t always agreed in the past, I know

But that ain’t at all important, now

What is important is what we got to do

We got to lick Mr. Hitler, and until we do

Other things can wait

In other words, first we got a skunk to skin

War means overtime and higher prices

But we’re all willing to make sacrifices

Hell, I’d even stop fighting with my mother-in-law

'Cause we need her too, to win the war…

Old battle axe

Now as I think of our great land

Of the cities and towns and farming land

There’s so many good people working every day

I know it ain’t perfect but it will be some day

Just give us a little time

This is the reason that I want to fight

Not because everything’s perfect or everything’s right

No. it’s just the opposite… I’m fighting because I want

A better America with better laws

And better homes and jobs and schools

And no more Jim Crow and no more rules

Like you can’t ride on this train 'cause you’re a Negro

You can’t live here 'cause you’re a Jew

You can’t work here 'cause you’re a union man

There’s a line keeps running through my head

I think it was something Joe Louis once said

Said, «There's lots of things wrong

But Hitler won’t help 'em.»

Now Mr. President, you’re commander-in-chief of our armed forces

Ships and planes, and the tanks and horses

I guess you know best just where I can fight

All I want to be is situated right…

To do the most damage

I never was one to try and shirk

And let the other fellow do all the work

So when the time comes, I’ll be on hand

And make good use of these two hands

Quit playing this banjo around with the boys

And exchange it for something that makes more noise

So Mr. President, we’ve got this one big job to do

That’s lick Mr. Hitler and when we’re through

Let no one else ever take his place

To trample down the human race

So what I want is you to give me a gun

So we can hurry up and get the job done