Unit 7: Great Depression and World War II, 1930-1945
UNITED DIVIDED
"Strange Fruit"
“Happy Days Are Here Again”
Words Jack Yellen, music Milton Ager, 1929
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s campaign song.
Lyric source | Recording
“Which Side Are You On?”
Florence Reece, tune of the hymn “Lay the Lily Low,” 1931
The Almanack Singer’s union organizing song, written during a coal strike in 1931.
Lyrics | Recording
“I’m Marching Down Freedom Road”
Words Langston Hughes, music Emerson Harper, 1942
Civil rights song from the World War II era.
Lyric source | Recording
WAR AND PEACE
“Der Fuhrer’s Face”
Oliver Wallace, 1942
Humorous song mocking Adolf Hitler, the unofficial most popular song of the war
Lyrics | Recording
"Goodbye, Mama (I'm Off to Yokohama)"
“The Slip of a Lip”
Luther Henderson, 1942
Duke Ellington’s popular song to encourage compliance with security regulations.
Lyrics | Recording
“Gee, Ma, I Want to Go Home”
Lt. Gitz Rice, 1940s
An adaptation of a British World War I song became a camp favorite ofAmerican GI’s.
Lyric source 1 | Recording
WORK
"El Corrido Pennsylvanio"
Pedro Rocha and Lupe Martinez, 1929
A song about migrant workers coming to work on the railroad in Pennsylvania.
Lyrics
"El Deportado"
Hermanos Banuelos, 1929
A corrido about the deportation of Mexican immigrants during the Great Depression.
Lyrics
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
Jimmie Cox, 1922
Blues tune sung by Bessie Smith in 1929 became an anthem of the Great Depression.
Lyrics | Recording
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”
Words Edgar Y. Harburg, music Jay Gorney, 1932
A World War I veteran laments being reduced to an unemployed panhandler.
Lyric source | Recording
“Seven Cent Cotton, Forty Cent Meat”
Music Bob Miller, words Emma Dermer, c. 1930
A lamentation for farmers suffering terribly from deflated prices for agricultural goods.
Lyrics | Recording
“Rosie the Riveter”
Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, 1942
Women turned war plant workers are made heroes in song and popular culture.
Lyric source (full score) | Recording
“Boll Weevil Song”
Traditional, 1934
A lament about the beetle destroying the cotton crop.
Lyrics | Recording
HOME
"Cancion Mexicana"
Lalo Guerrero, 1930
The unofficial national anthem of Mexico.
Lyric Source | Recording
“Hobo’s Lullaby”
Goebel Reeves, c. 1930
The reality of homelessness during the Depression is vividly portrayed in this lullaby.
Lyric Source | Recording
“Roll on Columbia”
Words Woody Guthrie, based on Huddie Ledbetter’s “Goodnight, Irene,” 1936
Guthrie celebrates Rural Electrification Act’s Columbia River Dam project.
Lyric source | Recording
“Duration Blues”
Johnny Mercer, 1944
A good-natured complaint about home-front rationing “for the duration” of World War II
Lyric source | Recording
MOVING ALONG
"El Corrido de Texas"
"Cross Road Blues"
"I Feel Like Going Home"
“Do, Re, Mi”
Woody Guthrie, 1935
Dust Bowl migrants reaching the California border often had to pay bribes to get in.
Lyrics | Recording
“Chattanooga Choo-choo”
Words Mack Gordon, music Harry Warren, 1941
Glenn Miller’s big band number capturing the romance of passenger travel by train
Lyrics | Recording
FAITH AND IDEALS
“Whistle While You Work”
Words Larry Morey, music Frank Churchill, 1937
A cheerful interpretation of the work ethic from Disney’s animated feature “Snow White.”
Lyric source | Recording
“God Bless America”
Irving Berlin, 1938
Singer Kate Smith introduced this popular patriotic song on Armistice Day 1938.
Lyric source 1 (Kate Smith recording online) | Recording
“You’ll Never Walk Alone”
Music Richard Rodgers, words Oscar Hammerstein II, 1945
This song from the musical “Carousel” expressed Americans’ hope at the end of the war.
Lyric source | Recording |
Unit walk-through:
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