Telephone Blues (1950) chords by Sonny Terry
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Verse 1
(D major) Now, if you want higher wages let me
tell you (A major) (D major) what to do
You got to talk to the workers
in the shop with you.
You got to build (A major) you a union,
got to make (D major) it strong,
But if you all stick together,
boys, it won't be long.
You get shorter hours,
better working conditions,
Vacations with pay. Take your kids
Verse 2
to the seashore.
(D major) It ain't (G major) quite this simple,
so I better explain
Just why you got to ride
on the union train.
'Cause if (D major) (A major) you wait for the boss
to raise your pay,
We'll all be a- waitin' 'til Judgment
Day.
We'll all be buried, gone to (G major) heaven,
St. Peter'll be (D major) the straw boss
then.
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Verse 3
Now you know you're (D major) underpaid but
the (A major) boss says you ain't;
He speeds up the work 'til you're 'bout
to faint.
You may be down and (D major) out
, but you ain't beaten,
You can pass out a leaflet and
call a meetin'.
Talk it over, speak your mind,
Decide (G major) to do somethin' about it.
Verse 4
Course, the boss may persuade
some poor damn fool
To go to your meetin' and act
like a stool.
But you can always tell a (D major) stool,
though, that's a fact,
He's got a yaller streak a- runnin'
(A major) down his back.
He doesn't have to stool,
he'll always get along
On what he takes out of blind men's cups.
Verse 5
You (G major) got a union now,
and you're sittin' pretty, (D major)
Put some of the boys on the steer
(A major) ing committee. (D major) (G major)
(D major)
The (A major) boss won't listen (G major) when (D major) one guy squawks,
(A major)
But he's got (D major) to listen when
the union talks.
He'd better, be mighty lonely
Everybody decide to walk
Verse 6
out on him.
(D major) Suppose they're working you so
hard it's just outrageous
And they're paying you
all starvation wages.
(G major) You go to the boss and the boss would yell,
"Before I raise your pay I'd see you
all in hell."
Well, he's puffing a big seegar,
feeling mighty slick (D major)
'Cause he thinks he's
got your union licked.
Well, he looks out (A major) the window
and what does he see
But a thousand pickets,
and they all (G major) agree:
He's a bastard, unfair,
slavedriver,
Bet he beats his wife!
Verse 7
Now, boys, you've come to the hardest time.
(D major)
The boss will try to bust your picket line.
He'll call out the police, the National Guard,
(A major) They'll tell you it's a crime to
have a union (D major) card.
They'll raid your meetin',
they'll hit you on the head,
They'll call every one of you a goddam red,
Unpatriotic, Japanese spies,
sabotaging national defense!
Verse 8
But out (D major) at Ford, here's (G major) what they found,
And out at Vultee, here's what they found,
And out at Allis- Chalmers,
(D major) here's what they found,
And down at (A major) Bethlehem, here's
what they found:
That if you don't let
red- baiting break you up,
And if you don't let stoolpigeons break you up,
And (G major) if you don't let vigilantes
break you up,
And if you don't let race (D major) hatred break you up,
You'll win. What
I mean, take it easy, but take it!
Telephone Blues (1950)
Sonny Terry
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