Pearl Moon (Hooverville, 1932)

[Verse 1: Mike Roe]
I said, "Have we sinned for something we don't know about?
Does hunger have a lesson to teach?"
As the silver moon shined like a pearl of great price
Drifting over our heads, out of reach

[Pre-Chorus 1: Derri Daughtery]
In California, every which way you turn
You can pluck a fat orange from a tree
And there's plenty of work and good wages to earn
And an end to our misery

[Chorus 1: Terry Scott Taylor]
Then the coyotes cried, "Hooverville!"
And the lonesome wind sighed, "Hooverville!"
And the pearl moon tried
To turn the tide
But those voices still cried, "Hooverville!
Hooverville!"

[Verse 2: Mike Roe]
I said, "It's wisest to cross the desert by night
So's we best be leaving soon"
Ma said, "But our jalopy won't start, and I'm losing heart
This place could become our tomb"

[Pre-Chorus 2: Derri Daughtery]
And the great pearl drifted in the western sky
And weakened in the first light of dawn
We worked under the hood, but it did us no good
And the moon, she kept rolling along

[Chorus 1: Terry Scott Taylor]
Then the coyotes cried, "Hooverville!"
And the lonesome wind sighed, "Hooverville!"
And the pearl moon tried
To turn the tide
But those voices still cried, "Hooverville!
Hooverville!"

[Verse 3: Mike Roe]
We vowed to stay strong when she took ghostly form
And the phantom moon faded away
Vanished in the fire of the harshest of suns
And the heat of those ruinous days

[Pre-Chorus 3: Derri Daugherty]
And we prayed she'd come back, and believed in the chances
That old engine would crank back into life
And we'd catch that moon tangled in those orange-tree branches
And lay hold of the pearl of great price

[Chorus 2: Terry Scott Taylor]
Then the night came again: "Hooverville!"
Sighed the lonesome wind. "Hooverville!"
Again the moon tried
To turn the tide
But our babies died
And all of us cried, "Hooverville!
Hooverville!"

[Bridge: Terry Scott Taylor]
And our babies died
And our babies died!
And our babies died!

[Outro: Pastor Joe Daugherty]
All of a sudden, there was a sound like a rushing, mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting! Cloven tongues like fire! What's this? The sound, the wind! Then all of the sudden, the hundred and twenty spills out into the street! And they're like drunken men under the influence of the Holy Spirit! And they're praising God in language of every nationality of people that was in Jerusalem at that time! And multitudes of them were spellbound! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!