Paint Your Wagon - The First Thing You Know

[AutumnGracy]

The first thing you know...I PICK UP AND BLOW! *angrily puts on hat* lmao, I love you Ben.

[MetallicBill]

Tis but a classic, and this song's true today as well, since Civilization and Mankind don't mean what they should

[garygowen]

i like

[Wellch]

Socialism,in which the government take care of you, eventually will enslave ya.

[aidan21]

this is bloody true.

[PhillyDippy5]

i hate musicals, but this one is great

[censored6x]

i salute this song with 2 donuts

[onkelkonkel5]

Don't know if my eyes decieve me but at 0:24, at the very right, that guy looks like the dead spitting image of David Carradine.

[douglasmatley]

Mr. Clint Eastwood, this is my favorite film of yours. I also remember you from TV when I as a child. I was born in Reno and grew up in Gardnerville, not far from where PYW was filmed in the sierras. Thank you doug

[diogeneslaertius666]

at some point, even my heart cries out in a given measure "civilization exists only to make all that which is best in life, accessible also to cowards".

[sarek1701d]

I think the Australian Government should pay attention to this song. They might learn something from it. This song does have some truth in it.

[onkaparingaathome]

@sarek1701d

I know what u mean

[asparwhite86]

My words exactly, Lee!

[Hiraghm]

"They civilize freedom til no one is free"... an important point to remember.

A man like Ben can freeze to death, die of hunger or thirst, mauled by wild beasts out in the wild where he's free. But, in "civilized" society, he'll be sheltered and fed and given healthcare and the only risk of dying he faces is dying of boredom.

[glnelson1956]

@Hiraghm Being relieved of all responsibility is not freedom, it's being a "kept pet", dependent on the hand that feeds you. At that point you are a slave, and no longer a free man.

The free man takes the risk of the wilderness dangers in order to improve his life by his own hand. He assumes all responsibility. That is total freedom.

Would you rather be kept like a pet, safe, warm and fed?

Or would you rather be a man free to roam on his own, seeking his own destiny, risks & rewards?

[Hiraghm]

@glnelson1956 - it's very rewarding to find that someone else "gets it".

[glnelson1956]

@Hiraghm Sadly, it seems most of the younger generation of Americans, don't "get it" as you so well put it. Many of them seem to be content as "kept pets", lacking self-motivation to make it on their own in the world. I fear America's best days are behind it.

Wish I could time travel; I'd either disappear into the 1820's Rockies as a fur trapper, or head west in 1849 to prospect all over the western territories. Imagine the total individual freedom in being a trapper or prospector!

[MurlocWrangler]

@glnelson1956 It is very sad indeed that many in my generation can't fathom that a cage made of gold is still a prison.

[sonofbatman421]

The first thing you know I pick up a joint & smoke, The first thing you knooow.

[Brook825]

Good points well made their Lee.

[freewolf317]

The first thing you know The boozer's in prison And the criminally isn't And only the rascals have gone When I see a parson I gotta put my arson in A wagon that follows the tail of a crow The first thing you know I pick up a growl The first thing you know

[zerotolerance4u]

@freewolf317 Try this version...

"The first thing you know. The boozer's in prison and the criminal he isn' and only the rascals have dough. When I see a parson I gotta put my arse in a wagon that follows the tail of a crow. The first thing you know. I pick up and blow."

Not that your version isn't interesting but I got this one from the liner notes in the album cover.

[toowoombaangel]

@zerotolerance4u I always understood it to be arson because that is what 49'ers used to separate the gold so ben would be picking up and moving to the next mine he would take his arson with him. *g* that's just me and I kinda like the history side of it lol

[zerotolerance4u]

@toowoombaangel ar·son [ahr-suhn] noun

Law. the malicious burning of another's house or property, or in some statutes, the burning of one's own house or property, as to collect insurance.

I have never heard of separating gold by burning buildings down. Interesting. If there is another definition of the word 'arson' I can't find it in any dictionary.

[freewolf317]

They muddy up the winter And civilize it, into a place Too uncivilized Even for snow The first thing you know They civilize left They civilize right Till nothing is left Till nothing is right They civilize freedom Till no one is free No one except By coincidence, me

[freewolf317]

They come along and take 'em

And civilize and make 'em

A place where no civilized

Person would go

The first thing you know

The first thing you know

They civilize what's pretty

By puttin' up a city

Where nothin' that's

Pretty can grow

[freewolf317]

God made the mountains God made the sky God made the people God knows why He fixed up the planet As best as He could Then in come the people And gum it up good The first thing you know They civilized the foothills And every weary put hills The mountains and valley below

[freewolf317]

this song and movie is the best!!!!

[dream6601]

Thank you for uploading

I don't care if critics say it's a bad movie, still one of my favorites.