3rd Grade

The Erie Canal: Traditional New York Work Song

Verse 1 :
I’ve got a mule her name is Sal, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal, 

She’s a good hard worker and a real good pal! Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

We’ve hauled some barges in our day, filled with lumber coal and hay,

From Buffalo we’re starting a trip, and it’s a slow but a very good ship

Oh! Low bridge, everybody down, Low bridge we’re a coming to a town

And you’ll always know your neighbor, you’ll always know your pall, 

If you’ve ever navigated on the Erie Canal!

Verse 2: 

Git up, old Sal, lets pass the lock, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

In Schenectady today at six o’clock, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

It’s all the time the same old haul, Glad to reach my port of call, 

A hundred friends will greet me “hello” From Albany to Buffalo

Oh! Low bridge, everybody down, Low bridge we’re a coming to a town

And you’ll always know your neighbor, you’ll always know your pall, 

If you’ve ever navigated on the Erie Canal! 

This Land is Your Land words and music by Woody Guthrie

This land is your land, this land is my land, 

from California, to the New York Islands

From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters. 

This land was made for you and me. 

As I was walking, that ribbon of highway

I saw above me, that endless skyway

I saw below me, that golden valley, 

This land was made for you and me. 

I’ve roamed and rambled, 

and I followed my footsteps, 

To the sparkling sand of

Her diamond deserts

And all around me, a voice was sounding, 

This land was made for you and me. 

When the sun comes shining, 

And I was strolling, 

And the wheat fields waving, 

And the dust clouds rolling

As the fog was lifting, 

A voice was chanting

This land was made for you and me

This land is your land, this land is my land, 

from California, to the New York Islands

From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters. 

This land was made for you and me.