“Jordan Am a Hard Road to Travel” was written and recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (1870-1952) in 1927. The tune is topical and Uncle Dave laments about many of the issues of the day. If you tweaked a few words here and there, the song could have been written yesterday. My gratitude goes to Uncle Dave for writing the song, my apologies to Norman Blake for ripping some of his licks and a shout out to Danny Gotham for reminding of the tune.
“Jordan Am A Hard Road to Travel” (D. Macon)
I’m gonna sing you a brand new song,
It’s all the truth for certain;
We cain’t live high, but we can get by,
And get on the other side of Jordan.
Oh, pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
Jordan am a hard road to travel;
Oh, pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
Oh, Jordan am a hard road to travel, I believe.
The public schools and the highways
Are raisin’ quite an alarm;
Get a country man educated just a little,
And he ain’t a-gonna work on the farm.
I don’t know, but I b’lieve I’m right,
The auto’s ruined the country;
Let’s go back to the horse and buggy,
And try to save some money.
I know a man that’s an evangelist,
His tabernacle’s always full;
People come from miles around
Just to hear him shoot the bull.
You may talk about your evangelist,
You may talk about Mister Ford too;
Well, Henry’s shakin’ more hell out of folks Than all the evangelists do.
Rain forty nights, gonna rain forty days,
Gonna rain on the Allegheny mountains;
Gonna rain forty horses and dominicker mules,
Gonna take us on the other side of Jordan.