In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum
Say, don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, ah gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum
Oh, say, don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum
Say, don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, ah gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum
Oh, say, don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Lyrics submitted by planetearth, edited by Wendalore
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Lyrics as written by Jay Gorney E. Y. Harburg
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Funny, the inaccurate history that some of these comments give. The last comment from March 19, 2013 attempts to correct them, but doesn't make it very clear what he is saying. Seems to expect people will pay attention long enough to compare what he said with what they said.
He's saying that the song was not written right after World War I ("The Great War" it was called, before Word War II happened)
World War I ended in 1918. This song was written in 1931.
It was not written about Theodore Roosevelt paying or not paying the soldiers the money they were owed for fighting in WWI. Theodore Roosevelt was President from 1901-1909. World War I hadn't started yet. WWI took place from 1914 to 1918. Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919. Googling this matter of the soldiers not getting paid in WWI, I see that this is not true. Soldiers were paid in for fighting in both world wars.
FRANKLIN, not Theodore Roosevelt was President around the time this song was popular. Franklin Roosevelt saved the country from the Great Depression. (something that current (2015) Republicans don't like to admit.) because he did so by putting the unemployed to work creating great public works, like dams.
This song IS about the people of this country fighting WWI, building railroads and cities, and now finding themselves jobless and poverty stricken. This happened because of the mishandling of money by the rich, similar to how it has been mishandled recently by Republicans, and Republican policies. After the Great Depression, anti-trust laws were instituted. They kept big businesses from joining with other big businesses and muscling the small businessman out of the competition. When there is nothing but big corporations and no small businesses, they can charge whatever they want for goods. Anti-trust laws have been ignored. The recent Trans Pacific Partnership is horrifying to me and should be to any American. How is a small business in America supposed to compete with businesses in other countries where the worker is paid one tenth or less of what the American worker is paid. You see now that more and more people should be singing this song. How many people's parents worked and worked to buy a house to leave to their kids—and those houses are gone. The kids didn't get them, they live in apartments.
So that is what this song is about. The people working their fingers off and getting nothing for it—stolen from them by the rich. Except they did not know what happened to it, just that it was gone. Now we know—what happened in the cash of 1929 has been analyzed.
Obama has been a pretty good President. There is nothing more ridiculous, there has been nothing as ridiculous in the history of this country as the shark, Donald Trump, actually the front runner in the Republican campaign. The country continues to march toward disaster, as the rich involve us in more wars to distract us from the fact that 1 % of the population owns 99 % of the wealth of this country. This is America? This is a democracy? The people of America voted for THIS? I don't think so.