EAST COLORADO
Traditional


It’s a long way from east Colorado
To my home, to my home;
To my home, to my home.

I found this hammer lying alongside the road,
Covered with blood, covered with blood;
Covered with blood, Babe, covered with blood.

Take this hammer, take it to the captain,
Tell him I’m gone, tell him I’m gone;
Tell him I’m gone, buddy, tell him I’m gone.

Mister, will your dog now, can he catch a rabbit,
Take him and try him, take him and try him,
Take him and try him, take him and try him.

It’s a long way from East Colorado
To my home, to my home;
To my home, to my home.

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This song is also called “Spike Driver Blues” or “Spike Driver Moan” and seems to be put together from a few fragments of “John Henry” with some other odds and ends. Steve added the verse about “can your dog catch a rabbit,” but doesn’t remember who he heard this from in Los Angeles.

The hypnotic twelve-string guitar picking pattern with a hammer-on gives a momentum to this song that takes awhile to build up, beginning with the long steady guitar introduction. The guitar speeds up as the song progresses, like a big steam engine, though this is probably not done on purpose. Steve’s version is somewhat like Mississippi John Hurt’s, but has its own touches added, taking it another step or two along the folk process.

—JS