THE BALLAD OF BARNEY GRAHAM
Della Mae Graham

On April the thirtieth
Nineteen thirty-three
Upon the streets of Wilder
They shot him brave and free

They shot my darling father
He fell upon the ground
'Twas in the back they shot him
His blood came streaming down

They took the pistol handles
And beat him on the head
The hired gunmen beat him
'Til he was cold and dead

When he left home that morning
I though he'd soon return
But for my darlin' father
My heart shall ever yearn

We carried him to the graveyard
There we laid him down
To sleep in death for many a year
In the cold and sodden ground

Although he left the union
He tried so hard to build
His blood was spilled for justice
And justice guides us still

Liner notes from Hedy West, Old Times and Hard Times:

This elegy was written by teen-age Della Mae Graham for
her father, who was president of the United Mineworker's Union
local in Wilder. One Sunday morning Barney Graham was walking
along the dirt road that was Wilder's main street, and as he
passed the company store, two gun thugs shot and killed him.
The community was so tightly controlled by the mine owners
that no local preacher dared preach at the funeral of the dead
union man; instead, the oration was preached by divinity students
from Nashville. "The tune I sing here is from John Greenway' s
American Folk Songs of Protest which doesn't explain its source.
When Daddy knew Della Mae Graham, she recited this poem and had
no written tune."

The song also appears as Track 20 on Pete Seeger, American Industrial Ballads.

Recording by Hedy West.
Recording by Pete Seeger.