Dust Bowl Geek: “Do Re Mi” by Woody Guthrie

Photo: Dept. of Agriculture

I listened to Nanci Griffith’s version of this song for the longest time before I realized it was a song about the Dust Bowl. Or more precisely, it was about the Okies who tried to find a better life in California, but found it was hard to make a go of it if they didn’t already have some money—that do-re-mi.

It’s a little tough to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you don’t have any bootstraps.

Woody Guthrie’s version of the song is available for free download from Freegal.