Ship in the Sky: Lyrics

Woody Guthrie

• LP Nursery Rhymes, Games and Folksongs
• CD The Folkways Years
• CD Greatest Songs of Woody Guthrie
• CD Songs Of Woody Guthrie

Well, a curly-headed girl with a bright shiny smile
Heard the roar of a plane as it sailed through the sky
To her playmates she said, with a bright twinkling eye
"My daddy flies that ship in the sky

   My daddy flies that ship in the sky
   Well, my daddy flies that ship in the sky
   Mama's not afraid and neither am I
   My daddy flies that ship in the sky"

Then a pug-nosed kid, as he kicked up his heel
Said, "My daddy works in that iron and the steel
Yes, my dad builds planes so they fly through the sky
And that's what keeps your daddy up there so high

   That's what keeps your daddy up there so high
   That's what keeps your daddy up there so high
   My dad builds planes so they fly through the sky
   And that's what keeps your daddy up there so high"

Then a freckle-faced boy pinched his toe in the sand
Said, "My daddy works at that place where they land
So you tell your mama, don't be afraid
My dad'll bring your daddy back home again

   My dad'll bring your daddy back home again
   My dad'll bring your daddy back home again
   Don't be afraid if it gets dark and rains
   'Cause my dad'll bring your daddy back home again"

Of note:

Yeah, yeah, cooperation, tolerance, all that. Sorry to be such a curmudgeon. But, this tedious, repetitive number is corny and dreary, regardless of its "uplifting" message (which I realize was not crammed down every throat with such gusto when it was originally recorded.) And to have it on 3 separate CDs, with so much of Cisco's work unissued, is a shame. To skip over it on one CD is a nuisance, to have to do so on 3 is a conspiracy.

On the Nursery Rhymes, Games and Folksongs LP, the song, titled "My Daddy," with slightly different lyrics, is a bit lighter and less tedious. Clearly Cisco liked this song; I'll trust him here as I do elsewhere.

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