So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh

DESCRIPTION: "I've sung this song, but I'll sing it again." The singer tells of the difficulties of life (in the dust bowl). At last he prepares to depart: "So long, it's been good to know you (x3)... And I've got to be drifting along."
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes home rambling clergy dustbowl
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Arnett-IHearAmericaSinging, pp. 164-165, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 92, "So Long, It's Been Good To Know You" (1 text [dustbowl version], 1 tune)
Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, pp. 205-206, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You" (1 text [dustbowl version], 1 tune)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 172-173, "(no title)" (1 excerpt, from the dustbowl version)
DT, SOLONGIT
Roud #15161
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh" (on PeteSeeger17) (on PeteSeeger41) (on PeteSeeger27); "So Long" (on PeteSeeger23)
NOTES [136 words]: There are actually two versions of this, Woody's original dustbowl text and the popularized Weavers version. Since Woody wrote both, however, I think we can list them under one entry. - RBW
Make that three versions. Woody also wrote one (recorded in 1944) with lyrics pertaining to World War II. - PJS
Incidentally, if it be questioned whether this is a folk song, I think it is, at least in Minnesota, where they used it as a theme for a popular children's television show. My generation learned it by non-folk means, but it's started to pass on to younger generations.
It appears that Guthrie's original version of this is based largely on actual events of the so-called 'Black Easter" of 1935. For details of this storm and how it affected Guthrie and others near him, see Ed Cray's Ramblin' Man, p. 69fff. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: Arn165

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