The Bragging Song by Chad Mitchell Trio
CHAD MITCHELL TRIO - The Bragging Song guitar tab
The Bragging Song (the Great Historical Bum)
by Woody Guthrie
From Chad Mitchell Trio's "At The Bitter End" album
Spoken:
[C] I think it would be appropriate if we introduced ourselves individually.
My name is Chad Mitchell and I'm from Spokane, Washington.
[J] My name is Joe Frazier and I'm from Lebanon, PA.
Lebanon is situated in one of the most fertile valleys on the East Coast
[M] My name is Mike Kobluk, and I come from the GREAT Canadian Southwest.
I come from a town called Trail, British Columbia, and it's noted for its
lead-zinc smelter which is world known - it's the biggest in the world.
[J] Uh, well everybody knows that in PA, we have a great many steel mines and
steel mills, and Lebanon has one of the largest ones there. That's my home town.
[M] Trail is not a one-industry town, though. Trail also is the center for the
company that makes elephant-brand fertilizer. [laughter] No, this is true. They
have a company there that makes nothing but elephant-brand fertilizer. It's the
biggest company of its kind in the whole world.
[J] Uh-huh. Well Lebanon is right near Hershey, PA - you've all heard of that...
and - um, that's where they make all the chocolate? - and more candy
bars are made there than any other place in the whole country.
[M] Trail is also noted because last year, the Trail Smoke-Eaters hockey team
won the world hockey championship over in Sweden.
[J] The AMATEUR hockey championship...
[M] But the WORLD hockey championship over in Sweden.
[C] I guess I forgot to mention that Spokane, Washington, is the apple, cherry,
and blue-leaf cabbage center of the United States.
[Singing starts:]
[J & M alternate verses. C tries to get a turn a couple of times and is
drowned out by the others. His other comments are generally made between
verses with the next singer cutting him off.]
[J:]
C G7
I was born about ten thousand years ago
C
There ain't nuthin' in this world that I don't know
F C
I saw Peter Paul and Moses playin' ring-around-the-roses
G7 C
And I'll WHUP the guy what says it isn't so
[M:]
G7
Well, I'm just a lonesome traveler, a great historical bum
C
Highly educated through history I have come
F C
I built the Rock of Ages, it was in the year of one
G7 C
And that's about the biggest thing that Man has ever done
[C starts singing: "I saw..." but is drowned out by J:]
I saw Adam and Eve driven from the door
I'm the guy that picked the fig leaves that they wore
And from behind the bushes peepin' saw the apple they was eatin'
And I swear that I'm the one what et the core
[C, spoken: "Garden of Eden...?"]
[M:]
Now I built the garden of Eden, it was in the year of two
Joined the apple-pickers union and I always paid my due.
I'm the man what signed the contract to raise the risin' sun
And that's about the biggest thing that Man has ever done
[J:]
I taught Samson how to use his mighty hand
I showed Columbus to this happy land
And for Pharaoh's little kiddies I built all the pyramiddies
[C, spoken: "Wait a minute..."]
And to the Sahara carried all the sand.
[C, spoken: "Built the pyramids...?"]
[M:]
Now I was strawboss on the pyramids and the tower of Babel too
I opened up the ocean, let the mighty children through
I fought a million battles and I never lost a one
And that's about the biggest thing that Man has ever done
[C starts to sing: "I taught..." but is drowned out by J:]
I taught Solomon his little ABC's. [C: "You? _I_ taught Solomon..."]
I'm the first one to eat Limburger cheese. [C: "No, smell my breath."]
And I floated down the bay [C: "I was on the helm."] with Methuseleh one day
Just watchin' his whiskers floating in the breeze [C: "I was there."]
[J, spoken: "And it was all me."]
[M] Now I fought the revolution that set this country free [C&J protest]
[J] It was me and a couple of Indians [C: "No..."] that dumped the Boston tea
[C: "You're wrong..."]
[M] I won the battle of Valley Forge [J] and the battle of Bully Run [C: ahhhh]
[J&M] And that's about the biggest thing that Man has ever done
[C:]
Well, Queen Elizabeth she fell in love with me
We were married in Milwaukee secretly
But I got tired and shook her and ran off with General Hooker
To go shootin' skeeters down in Tennessee
[All sing first verse in harmony.]
[C&M sing first verse in harmony. J sings 2nd verse at same time.]
[J sings 2nd verse while M sings 1st verse and
C sings the following in high harmony:
I'm ju--st a lonesome tra--veler.
High--ly educated I've become.
I buil--t the Rock of A--ges.
[All, in high harmony:]
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done.
[banjo: "shave & a haircut, two bits"]
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