Deportee - chords, tab and comments


In December 1930, a planeload of deportees back to Mexico caught fire and crashed in the canyon of Los Gatos, California. The victims of the accident were spread across a large area, no attempt at identification were made, their next of kins were not noticed and their bodies were shuffeled into a common grave. A furious Woody Guthrie wrote the inserat "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" in the New York Times. Years later, Martin Hoffman came up with the melody, called the song "Deportee" and it's told that Guthrie ... then crippeled from MS disease ... were present at the theater premiere, recognized the words, and whispered them along with the performance. The song was then spread to the public, mostly thanks to recordings by the Weavers and Joan Baez.
A                             Bm7          A
the crops are all in and the peaches are rotten
A                               Bm7       A
the oranges are piled in their creosote dumps
          D                       A
they're flyin' them back to the Mexican border
A                          Bm7        A
to pay all their money to wade back again

D                        A           A7
goodbye to my Juan  goodbye Rosalita
E          E7     A       A7
Adios mi amigo  Jesus y Maria
     D                              A
you won't have your names when you ride the big airplane
A                           Bm7      A
all they will call you will be deportee
A major
A
A seventh
A7
B minor seventh
Bm7
D major
D
E major
E
E seventh
E7
Woody Guthrie