SONGS OF FISHING, SHEEP AND GUNS IN MONTANA
© Greg Keeler 1987

Make Bucks, Get Rich, Be Better Than Everybody, Get Fat and Have a Heart Attack

Long ago my granddad had a farm in Oklahoma
Till the wind blew away the soil.
Then the dozers came in and flattened out the place.
A banker bought it and discovered oil.
When Granddad returned and tried to buy the place back
And start to farmin' like he had all along,
That banker wouldn't sell and said that he could go to hell,
And then he started into singin' this song.

Chorus
I gotta make bucks, get rich, be better than everybody,
Get fat and have a heart attack.
Gotta make bucks, get rich, be better than everybody,
Get fat and have a heart attack.

Well, that was long ago, and lots of folks say
That a depression couldn't happen today,
But I just say, "Come off it. Take a look at the windfall profits
That those bankers are makin' us pay.
They're just a bunch of mobsters, sittin' and eatin, steak and lobsters
While the old folks freeze in their beds every night,
And if we stick 'em with court rulin's, they'll accuse us all of foolin'
With their inalienable right to

Chorus

A couple years ago on the South China Sea
I was workin' for the Merchant Marine,
Still tryin' to make a buck and at the end of my luck
When I came upon this scene.
Out floatin' 'cross the bow ran a dirt ol' scow
All loaded down with human life.
They hadn't eaten for days, and they yelled out half crazed,
But the skipper just passed them by.
And then he explained it would just be a pain
to try to take that boat in tow.
'F we took 'em home and tried to feed 'em, they'd impose upon our freedom:
I.e. they'd cost a lot of dough.
Yes, them tired and hungry masses is just a bunch of asses
Tryin' to cash in on Uncle Sam.
And when he was through, I looked back and half the crew
Had assembled in a military band. They sang,