He cites his own loss and misfortune (he mentions the trials of his dead wife and his underfed children 'moaning like pups') as a warning to others to avoid the same fate. They encounter a fellow Dust Bowl migrant at a roadside rest-stop who tells them to turn back, echoing the cautionary tone of the song. The message of the song parallels a theme of John Steinbeck's seminal novel The Grapes of Wrath, wherein the Joad family makes a dangerous, expensive trip from their home in Oklahoma to California. The argument is made on the basis that there are already too many migrants, and not enough money or work available to make the hardships and expense of the trip worthwhile.
It takes the form of a warning to would-be migrants to stay where they are (places of origin mentioned include Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia and Tennessee). Written by Woody Guthrie, the song is included on his 1940 folk album Dust Bowl Ballads.
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