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Vigilante Man / George Floyd

from For Big Floyd by Jim McHugh

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"Vigilante Man" is a song originally performed by Woody Guthrie. As is common in the folk tradition, the song borrows its melody from other folk tunes, namely "Sad and Lonesome Day," a song popularized by The Carter Family; which itself borrows from Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean."

"George Floyd" is based on Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad," a song inspired by yet another traditional folk song, "John Hardy."

Like Guthrie, Jim McHugh has updated the lyrics of these songs to fit modern specifics and themes - the circumstances surrounding the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

lyrics

Have you seen the vigilante man
Dressed in blue with a gun and club in his hand
Kills the black, the brown, the poor of this land
There's blood all over his white hands
George Floyd was a strong black working man
Speaking out to power any way he can
Knelt on his neck and killed him
Because he wasn't afraid of him
We've got to tear this racist system down

Is that the vigilante man
Over there in blue with a gun and a shotgun in his hand
Yes, I know his work. I've seen it all over this land
He does shoot our brothers and sisters down
Big Floyd was a strong black man
Speaking out to power any way he can
Knelt on his neck and killed him
Because he wasn't afraid of him
Got to tear this capitalist army down
We've got to tear this racist system down
We've got to tear this racist system down

Everybody just might be one big soul
It looks that way to me
Everywhere that you look in the day or the night
That's where I'm a gonna be
That's where I'm a gonna be
That's where I'm a gonna be
That's where I'm a gonna be

Everywhere little children are hungry and crying
Everywhere that people ain't free
Everywhere people get killed for the color of their skin, man
That's where I'm a gonna be, lord
That's where I'm a gonna be
That's where I'm a gonna be
That's where I'm a gonna be
That's where we're gonna be
That's where we're gonna be

credits

from For Big Floyd, released June 2, 2020

license

all rights reserved

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Jim McHugh image

Jim McHugh Brooklyn, New York

Guitar, electric phin, saz. Alliances include:
Sunwatchers; Eugene Chadbourne;
Brigid Dawson & The Mothers Network;
Drunken Foreigner Band;
Jonathan Kane/February; Drunken Foreigner Band; KATIEE & Poor Historian.
THE FUTURE IS OPEN. ... more

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