Create a folk song that details the experiences of people who moved west. 1. Choose a tune you know well for the melody. You might use “Sweet Betsy from Pike” or another folk song you know, such as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

2. Write four stanzas of four lines each. Each stanza should be about a different group of settlers.

3. Within the four lines of each stanza, include:
• at least one motive for this group to move to the West
• at least one hardship this group faced
• at least one legacy this group left behind

4. Give your song a title, and tell what melody it is sung to.

replaced railroad with highway

Explanation:

I've been working on the highway

All the live long day

I've been working on the highway

Just to pass the time away

Can't you hear the whistle blowing

Rise up so early in the morn

Can't you hear the whistle blowing

Dinah, blow your horn

Dinah won't you blow

Dinah won't you blow

Dinah, won't you blow your horn

Dinah, won't you blow,

Dinah, won't you blow,

Dinah, won't you blow your horn

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Someone's in the kitchen I know

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Strumming on the old banjo

Fee fie fiddle eell o

Fee fie fiddle eell o

Fee fie fiddle eell o

Strumming on the old banjo