The First Punk Rocker

This machine kills fascists that's what I said
I'll stand on your grave 'til I'm sure you're dead
In the squares of the city and the shadow of the steeple
Woody Guthrie saw his people
Telling it straight to ol' Mr. Knickerbocker
Woody Guthrie was the first punk rocker

Born in Okemah, Oklahoma
Woody Guthrie was consumed by fire
His momma took ill and fanned the flames
A man set out to do his own thing
The ornery profane poet straight-talker
Woody Guthrie was the first punk rocker

From the dust-bowl emerged the protest singer
Woody worked for the working class people
Irving Berlin man he had it all wrong
'This land is your land' was a protest song
No prime time pipe smoking radio hawker
Woody Guthrie was the first punk rocker

Cisco and Sonny, Leadbelly and Seeger
Anti-fascist almanac singer
Merchant marine man, migrant worker
Bound for Glory radical thinker
He didn't sing for the almighty dollar
Woody Guthrie was the first punk rocker

Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Springsteen and Hunter
Ochs and Chapin, Mellencamp and Strummer
Billy Bragg, Jeff Tweedy, Jerry Garcia
Steve Earle, Jay Farrar and Bob Weir
Ramblin' Jack, Tom Paxton, Sonny Walker
But Woody Guthrie was the first punk rocker