The Rubaiyat

The Rubaiyat (excerpt) Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston (1945) Hard Travelin' - The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3 Don't give your money, not one penny spend To learn the secret of your life, my friend One little hair divides the false and true And all that little hair, it starts and ends One hair, I guess, divides the false and true (the false and true) Find this one hair no matter what you do (what you do) This hair will lead you to the drinking room And to the wives of your great landlord too (it was) I rolled in pain down on that sawdust floor (the drinkin' floor) I prayed to heaven to open its golden door I groaned and yelled: How long must I here roll? (here) You must roll here till you are you no more (you no more) I wasted lots of hours in the hot pursuit Of this and that argument and dispute Better to kiss the lip with laughin' grapes Than eating sad or proud or bitter fruit I'm glad I went off on my big carouse And took my second wife into my house Divorced old dried-up reason out of my bed Took this daughter of the vine to spouse What is and is not proof I rule in line (I rule in line) And up and down by logic I define I guess you thought I was a deep wise man I never went deep in any thing but wine My drinkin' door eased open late last late (last night late) I saw a lady with an angel shape (pretty girl) She handed me a gla*s of wisdom juice I drank it down and found the juice was grape This grapy juice can prove a billion things Can make our racial haters dance in rings Can make our set out to fightin' priests and princes Sing simple songs, and tease my kings and queens (queens and kings both) If God roiled my good wine, then would he dare (he wouldn't dare) To make my viny grape a trap an' a snare I drink my wine and I bless your sweet red mouth If wine's a curse, well then, who set it there?