Starving to Death on my Government Claim
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ballad
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
My name is Frank Baker, an old bach'lor I am
I'm keeping old batch on an elegant plan,
You'll find me out west in the County of Lane
Starving to death on my government claim.
My house it is built of the national soil
The walls are erected according to Hoyle,
The roof has no pitch, but is level and plane
And I never get wet till it happens to rain.
Then hurrah for Lane County, the land of the free
The home of the bedbug, mosquito and flea,
I'll sing loud her praises and sing of her fame
While starving to death on my government claim.
My clothes they are ragged, my language is rough,
My bread is case-hardened, both solid and tough;
The dough it is scattered all over the room
And the floor would take fright at the sight of a broom.
My dishes are dirty, and some in the bed
Are covered with sorghum and government bread;
But I have a good time and I live at my ease
On common-sop sorghum, old bacon and grease.
Then hurrah for Lane County, the land of the West
Where the farmers and laborers are always at rest;
Where you've nothing to do but sweetly remain
And starve like a man on your government claim.
How happy am I when I crawl into bed
And a rattlesnake rattles a tune at my head;
And the gay little centipede, void of all fear
Crawls over my pillow ind into my ear.
And the nice little bedbug, so cheerful and bright
Keeps me a-scratching full half of the night,
And the gay little flea with toes sharp as a tack
Plays "why don't you catch me?" all over my back.
But hurrah for Lane County, where blizzards arise
Where the winds never cease and the flea never dies;
Where the sun is so hot if in it you remain,
'Twill burn you quite black on your government claim.
How happy am I on my government claim,
Where I've nothing to lose and nothing to gain;
Nothing to eat and nothing to wear,
Nothing from nothing is honest and square.
But here I am stuck, and here I must stay
My money's all gone, and I can't get away;
There's nothing to make a man hard and profane
Like starving to death on a government claim.
Then come to Lane County, there's room for you all
Where the winds never cease and the rains never fall.
Come join in the chorus, and sing of her fame
While starving to death on your government claim.
Now don't get discouraged, you poor hungry men,
We're all here as free as a pig in a pen;
Just stick to your homestead and battle your fleas
And pray to your Maker to send you a breeze.
Now a word to claim holders who are bound for to stay
You may chew on your hardtack till you're toothless and gray;
But as for me, I'll no longer remain
And starve like a dog on my government claim.
Then farewell to Lane County, farewell to the West
I'll travel back East to the girl I love best;
I'll stop in Topeka and get me a wife
And there I shall live for the rest of my life
"Starving to Death on my Government Claim" is an American and Canadian satirical ballad.<br> It clearly dates back to the latter part of the nineteenth century, the period of<br> Homestead Claims. The Homestead Act of 1862 had opened large areas of the western U.S. to<br> settlement, allowing settlers to lay claim to 160 acre sections in return for nominal<br> payments. However, the settlers were required to live on their claims for five years<br> before they could "prove up" and gain title to the property. Many settlers, like the<br> one here, wound up living in impossible conditions because it was the only way to stake<br> the claim. It was not at all rare for the homesteader to give up, sell the <br> claim and head back east.<br> Fowke's Canadian version "The Alberta Homesteader" is very much the same song, slightly<br> adapted to the north country and the minor differences in Canada's homesteading laws<br> (created when Canada took over the western part of the continent from the Hudson's Bay Company<br> in 1871, although most migrants did not start out until the 1880s).<br> At least three widely-known tunes have been used for this piece, "The Irish Washerwoman",<br> "Vilikens and his Dinah" (also known as "Sweet Betsy from Pike") and "The Little Old Log<br> Cabin in the Lane", but the largest number of collections seem to use "The Irish Washerwoman";<br> it may have been the original melody.<br> In this set of lyrics, only the first three verses use the C part of the melody.<br> It was printed in<br> Randolph's Ozark Folksongs (1946-1950),<br> E. Moore & C. Moore's Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest (1964) (as "Hurrah for<br> Greer County"),<br> Abernethy's Singin' Texas (1994) (as "The Greer County Bachelor"),<br> Sandburg's The American Songbag (1927) (as "The Lane County Bachelor"),<br> Fowke & Mills' Canada's Story in Song (as "The Alberta Homesteader"),<br> Fowke & MacMillan's Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs (1973) (as "The Alberta Homesteader"),<br> Lomax & Lomax's Folk Song USA (1947),<br> Lomax & Lomax's American Ballads and Folk Songs (1934) (as "Greer County"),<br> Sackett & Koch's Kansas Folklore (1961) (as "The Lane County Bachelor"),<br> Cohen's American Folk Songs: A Regional Encyclopedia (2008) (as "The Lane County Bachelor"),<br> Fife & Fife's Cowboy and Western Songs (1969) (as "The Lane County Bachelor"),<br> Pound's American Ballads and Songs (1922),<br> Coleman & Bregman's Songs of American Folks (1942) (as "The Lane County Bachelor") and<br> Silber & Silber's Folksinger's Wordbook (1973).<br> It is included in the Roud Folksong Index as #799.<br> It was recorded by<br> Bill Bender, The Happy Cowboy (78RPM) "Lane County Bachelor" (c. 1940),<br> Cowboy Ed Crane (78RPM) "Starving to Death on a Government Claim" (1932),<br> Benjamin Kincaid (78RPM) "The Lane County Bachelor" (1933),<br> Burl Ives (78RPM) "Greer County Bachelor" (1949) and<br> Pete Seeger on Frontier Ballads (1954) and<br> American History in Ballad and Song, Vol. 1 (1960).<br>
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