They Couldn’t take the Music Tom Paxton

I never really knew you - I was a couple of years too young
By the time I came of age, the song of your life was sung
From the hills of Oklahoma to the North Atlantic seas
From the cries of the hungry children to the eyes of the deportees


They could take away your money, they could take away your land
Drive you out on the endless highway, leave you out on the desert sand
They could take the food from your hungry mouth and lock you in the hole
But they couldn't take the music from your soul
No, they couldn't take the music from your soul

Just another scruffy Okie and just a dustbowl refugee
Headin' on out to California, a little bit low on do-re-mi
And everywhere you wandered, you saw poor folks treated wrong
And you made those poor folks your whole life and made your life a song

They could take away your money, they could take away your land
Drive you out on the endless highway, leave you out on the desert sand
They could take the food from your hungry mouth and lock you in the hole
But they couldn't take the music from your soul
No, they couldn't take the music from your soul

Oh, they called you a dangerous radical, they called you a rabid red
But it never really mattered all the stupid things they said
All those lies and all those liars are all over the hill and gone
While your songs are still here singing and still rolling the union on