Roll On Columbia, Roll On

[jatoav8or]

Being a vegetarian I don't eat meat or fish but it makes me sad to think of all those poor salmon who can't swim home that we have blocked their path with these evil power producing goliaths . Tear out the dams , let the rivers flow free to sea.

[nessagirl12]

I've always lived on the Columbia, and I can't imagine living in the middle of the country away from it.

[BornAgainstMormons]

did one of the lines say "we hung every indian with powder in his gun"?

[steven8807]

I shed a tear passing the John Day Dam...it just happened. I'm a descendent of the people that once lived here. I think I felt their grief.

[nathanfishing3000]

I LIVE NEAR COLUMBIA!

[niflap]

Awesome river

[TXRider]

is there a version that has lyrics like...I don't know..."Watch all the salmon die, watch all the salmon die, do you know why? It's so DAM tragic" :(

[visionsofed]

There is a really great version by Joe Mcdonald on the album THE GREATEST SONGS OF WOODY GUTHRIE, It's probably one of my top five favorite songs of all time. Woody Guthrie is my hero, he was a great american and advocate for the common men and women that made and make this country great.

[Tarcangel56]

Awfully sad reference to the Indians being hung. It could refer to the Modocs hung at Fort Klamath for "murder" or maybe the Cayuse who were turned over for hanging after the Whitman massacre - or maybe the 7 year old Shasta boy hung in Jacksonville for being an Indian in the wrong century. I learned this song as a child growing up in Oregon and couldn't remember the lyrics so I looked them up. How I wish I hadn't!

[AirlinePilotZJ]

I just got taught this song. Great song!

[supersoberguy]

AC Houghton in Irrigon Oregon you could hear kids singing this song in class in the late 70's and early 80's :) Great memories!!

[Carex09]

I kayaked from Wenatchee to Vantage a couple years ago, and it was one of the most awful experiences of my life. Lots of boat traffic with their stereos cranked up obliviously driving dangerously close and fast to my kayak, one of the few beaches that I could camp at was overrun by people shooting off guns until 11:00 at night. The water quit moving after the 1st bend in the river past Rock Island Dam and had to paddle the whole way because there wasn't any current.

[Carex09]

What is doing really well in this slower and warmer water (because of the dams) is carp and milfoil- neither one is native to this area. In 1950's milfoil was 1st discovered on the Columbia, and today it covers every bit water shallow water from Canada to the Pacific. The Columbia is just a ghost of its former self. It is a series of lakes that they draw down to produce electricity. Nothing more, and certainly not a rolling river lest you use your imagination.

[strawberryseason]

@Carex09  unfortunately yes, dams do much damage to ecosystems.

[KibaSin]

I miss this river now that I live in Kentucky. I used to live on the junction between the Columbia and the Snake river, and it's sad sometimes to think that I'll now have to watch the Ohio river flow.

[katesgram]

I remember singing this song when I was in elementary school. Nice video to go along with it,

[mschardyc]

@katesgram lol so do i!!

[pedonbio]

Just a note--The river has about 2/3 the flow of the Mississippi. To wade it, you'd have to go to the Montana glaciers that feed it before it goes north into Canada. The only truly wild stretch is the 40 miles or so that go through the Hanford Reservation. It's wild except for the radioactivity.

[ZibbaZoob]

we had to learn this in music while i was living in vancouver Wa,

[jsd78]

Melody is from Lead Belly's song Irene, which was probably taken from another song..

[niflap]

If the water at Bonniville isn't covering the rocks B4 it rises, the ships would never make it into the locks.

[niflap]

I've always fancied the Columbia to be a deep river, & there probably aren't too many stretches you can wade across. An impounded segment of the Columbia called Kinbasket Lake, behind Mica Dam in BC is about 500' deep, but so is Lake Meade, an impounded section of the Colorado River behind Hoover Dam.

Most rivers the Columbia's size(flowrate) reach natural depths in excess of 100' as do many smaller rivers. The CR doesn't have enough natural stretches to draw much in the way of conclusions.

[pilatus1775]

Unfortunately the Columbia was damned starting back in in the late 30's. It used to be much more "natural" and had falls and rapids throughout. Now it's great power is used to provide electricity and irrigation for millions of people in the Pacific NW. It is deep enough for ships to pass through so I doubt there is anywhere, short of the mountain streams that feed it, where a person can wade across. If you've never seen the river, go see it. If you have, see it again. Still beautiful.

[niflap]

It's an awesome river

[saddlebredhorsegirl]

i had to sing this in chore i love the song but i hate my chore teacher , mrs. amore

[xTalkativeSweetiex]

we had to sing this in music verses except different verses.

[topsecretjackandjill]

We had to sing this in music class!!!

[xTalkativeSweetiex]

omg so did we?

[amimay43]

I know, in fifth grade, whick grade i am right now, i'll give you a hint, the teacher's last name starts with f and and with s.Most beautiful music on the newer vision.

[niflap]

Energy-wise, the Columbia's greener than the Green River.

[niflap]

I wonder what native Americans think of this song.

[LolCaramelz]

They never watched the whole thing, the second they hear this hick sing they think OH SHI- and they start running from the white man.

[TheKa89]

@niflap I went a rez school in Kitsap County and we used to sing this in our music class, taught by an old hippie who had a boat named 'purple haze'. You tell me, lol. :-P

[cameraperson]

@niflap

They probably enjoy flipping a switch and getting their furnace to kick on, or the lights to make it possible to do stuff after the sun sets at 4pm in the winter. I'm not einstein, but they arent the savages you think they are, living without electricity.

[two0sixTay]

@niflap im duwamish...i like it.

[niflap]

I think the Columbia starts in the Canadian SOUTHwest.

[amimay43]

It is.

[dsmallwood2112]

The song is great, but a song like a picture just can't do the river enough justice, you have to experience and the song means so much more

[adders45]

woody's accent sounds a lot like someset in england and the local folk singers he has a definate burr

[longduckdong10]

WOW...we sang this growing up in music class in the midwest...now that I live out here, it is really cool to hear

The pic at :54 is where we cross on our way to Pullman every year

Thanks for posting this!

[niflap]

Vantage?

[GoSalamence]

I love this song. I live in NJ, but in music class we were taught this song in order to learn dotted quarter notes. Every time I want something good to hear, this is what I listen to. It fells so magical when you listen to it.......

[HALOPCKING]

We just did a lesson about this in are WS history class and for extra credit iff we sang this sondg the best and loudest u got ec. are class one lol we where freakn good. This song just makes me think of how much i take the columbia for granted

[niflap]

The Columbia River was a real asset to our region.

[WebkinzLover9494]

I sing this in music:D

HAHA

[xTalkativeSweetiex]

haha me too :)

[jwdoher]

thanks so much for taking the time to put this together; i grew up in Gold Hill Oregon; learned the song in school in the 50s. Every time I drive or ride my motorcycle along the Columbia, I sing the song - or the parts I know anyway. It's a magical place and a magical song. Roll on Columbia, You'll be here when I am gone.

[Brennna]

I'm from Portland but we were taught this song in music class as children. So nice to hear it and see the beautiful Columbia. I live in the UK now and don't get to see it anymore. :(

[MrGrantfred1]

@Brennna Yeah go Portland! but i feel sorry this is a great song

[razzledazzle108]

wow - i live in the gorge, oregon side and the old footage is amazing

[wilsonriverfisher]

This song I love it..... I like to sing it while driving down I-84...Its time to get rid of the damns huh?

[sthomaslewis]

@wilsonriverfisher

I do not think we need to get rid of the dams.  We need the electricity, and hydroelectric is non-polluting.

[niflap]

@wilsonriverfisher Dams were green when green wasn't cool. It would have been foolish not to put the river to use. It helps us post on Youtube w/out polluting greenhouse gasses.

[MargieLou40]

Love this song, I used to sing it as a child every time our family drove to Wenatchee and I could see the river. :) Keep it alive! :) Oh and there's PLENTY of wild salmon in that river, you have no idea.

[EcoRover]

Let's never mind 'em salmons...

[serorobele]

I'm going to show this to my fourth graders in Vancouver, WA since we do state history this year! Thanks!

[orosco83]

Hi serorobele, Your welcome, State history was my favorite subject.

[jfsabl]

Never listened to the version with the "indian verses" (not part of the official version, & nowhere on internet):

"our loved ones we lost there at coals little [?] store

by fireball and rife a dozen or more

[???]mary and soldiers she bore

remember the trial when the battle was won

the wild indian warriors to the tall timber run

we hung every indian with smoke in his gun

year after year we had tedious trials

fighting the rapids and cascades and downs

Indians rest peaceful on Mamelou sound"

[FossilBabe54]

I'm from Idaho, along the Snake River. Woody Guthrie had the common touch.... he spoke for the people with a voice of the people. This is a wonderful video!

[orosco83]

I'm Washington and I love it too. The Grand Coulee visitor center plays this song.

[moparr1963]

I'm from Oregon and I love it

[Fozzymaple]

Well, what exactly did you expect from Woody Guthrie, a heavily right wing song? Woody was at least heavily pro-Communism, if not a Communist himself, so the heavily left leaning text is no surprise.

[lelanruthgie]

Heavy left wing subtext to the lyrics. The river's dammed, the factories, and media factories run, the man in (the stream is) O pressed.