Lost Dogs Pearl Moon (Hooverville Camp 1932) Lyrics

I said, “Have we sinned for something we don’t know
about?
Does hunger have a lesson to teach?”
As the silver moon shined like a pearl of great price
Driftin’ over our heads out of reach
Someone said,” In California every which way you turn
You can pluck a fat orange from a tree
And there’s plenty of work
And good wages to earn
And an end to our misery”

Then the coyotes cried
“Hooverville!”
And the lonesome wind sighed
“Hooverville”
And the pearl moon tried
To turn the tide
But those voices still cried
“Hooverville! Hooverville!”

I said, “It’s wisest to cross the desert by night
So’s we best be leavin’ soon”
Ma said, “But our jalopy won’t start and I’m losin’
heart
This place could become our tomb”
And the great pearl drifted in the western sky
Then weakened in the first light of dawn
We worked under the hood
But it did us no good
And the moon she kept rolling along

Then the coyotes cried “Hooverville!”
And the lonesome wind sighed
“Hooverville”
And the pearl moon tried
To turn the tide
But those voices still cried
“Hooverville! Hooverville!”

We vowed to stay strong when she took ghostly form
And the phantom moon faded away
Vanished in the fire of the harshest of suns
And the heat of those ruinous days
Then we prayed she’d come back and believed in the
chances
That old engine would crank back into life
And we’d catch that moon tangled in those orange tree
branches
And lay hold of the pearl of great price

Then the night came again
“Hooverville!”
Sighed the lonesome wind
“Hooverville”
Again the moon tried
To turn the tide
But our babies died
And all of us cried
“Hooverville! Hooverville!”

And our babies died
And our babies died
And our babies died