Brother, can you spare a dime?

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", also sung as "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?", is an American songs of the Great Depression. It was written in 1931 by E. Y. "Yip" Harburg and composer Jay Gorney.


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 slogging 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? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging 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.
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?



The song asks why the men who built the nation by working on railroads, in the cities building skyscrapers, who fought in the war, who worked so hard as farmers, all the work now supposedly done, what was being given to them, but bread lines.

It was a song that may have reminded the workers on the Hoover Dam that now the greatness of the country was being reformed upon resilience, the ability to bounce back, rather than through industry, the ability to build and grow, which sadly and shockingly had displaced so many.

It was songs like this that were etched in each man's mind, amid the noise of jackhammers, shovels, the jumbo's rolling in and out with men readying the way for dynamite. The music carrying feelings that these men might not otherwise have been able to understand, helping them to relate to eachother. Brother, can you spare a dime?