Big Combine, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer describes the crew of "harvest stiffs" on the big combine (harvester) in Oregon, including Oscar (Nelson), an IWW member; the horse-puncher ("the things he tells the horses...I can't tell you") and the singer himself, who is head puncher.
AUTHOR: Jock Coleman
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (composed); first printed 1923
KEYWORDS: bragging farming harvest labor-movement work moniker nonballad boss worker IWW migrant
FOUND IN: US(NW)
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "The Big Combine" (on Thieme03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] (tune) and references there
NOTES [27 words]: The Pacific Northwest was the center of the IWW (Wobbly) movement in the early 20th century; migrant farmworkers and lumberjacks were its principal supporters. - PJS
File: RcTBgCom

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