Forum Post: Woody Guthrie "Jesus Christ."
Posted 12 years ago on March 3, 2012, 1:12 a.m. EST by GypsyKing
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Woody Guthrie This Land Is Your Land
This land is your land This land is my land From California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway: I saw below me that golden valley: This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling, And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling, As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting: This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." But on the other side it didn't say nothing, That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me.
Beautiful. And I think he wrote even better songs that THAT. Litsen to "Pastures of Plenty," especially the version by Odetta. It still sends chills up my spine!
He was a GREAT unionist and activist for social and economic justice.
Here are the lyrics to Pastures of Plenty, that wonderful ode to migrant farm workers, totally unsentimental yet filled to the brim with humanity:
It's a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed My poor feet have traveled a hot dusty road Out of your Dust Bowl and Westward we rolled And your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold
I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes I slept on the ground in the light of the moon On the edge of the city you'll see us and then We come with the dust and we go with the wind
California, Arizona, I harvest your crops Well its North up to Oregon to gather your hops Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine To set on your table your light sparkling wine
Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down Every state in the Union us migrants have been We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win
It's always we rambled, that river and I All along your green valley, I will work till I die My land I'll defend with my life if it be Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free
Thank you for those lyrics. Thay are set off in a haunting, slightly below key, sad and trumphant maner that is unforgetable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v2hg_G-BRw
I just listened to the Odetta version. I can understand why you're so taken with it. I am, too.
We could use a few more like Woody today. Pete Seeger was pretty awesome in his day, and he showed real courage standing up to McCarthy. And the young Dylan. Bruce Springsteen is working at it (His "We Take Care of Our Own" was brilliant at the Grammy's). We need more of their kind right now. (But Woody was in a class by himself.)
Agreed on all fronts.
GK : Digging your style with this forum-post & here's Woody's original of ...
'Pastures of Plenty' : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH2DJvgNlMA &
"TLiYL : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaI5IRuS2aE&feature=fvsr ;-)
pax .
That is my favorite of many songs of his that I really love. I posted a version here by Odetta, that on a good sound system still sends chills up my spine. You should listen to it.
Woody Guthrie rocks!! Great post, Gypsy!!!
Yeah, he wrote something like a song a day. I don't think most of them were ever even published. His autobiography, "Bound For Glory," is GREAT
I grew up listening more to his son. This has been great fun and sorely needed. :D
Yep 'GF', emphatic ditto & doffed cap to 'GK'. Re 'WG' :
"Workin' Hard Blues" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnnMgMBTp8&feature=related , heart wrenching and rib tickling ...
"Tear the Fascist Down" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKVnur5DkdI&feature=related , heart warming & spine stiffening ...
pax .
That is another great song!!
Here's another 'GF' and here's hoping ...
spero .
Great!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjKF7aQthcQ
How many things are 18 minutes and 22 seconds long?
You guys send me over to youtube and then one thing leads to another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVLOOgPJ498
Good call Gypsy!
Lol! 'Tis a road well travelled 'GF', right 'til the "End Of The Line" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHvXNGrOvRA&feature=related .
pax et lux .
Thanks Shadz!
YWHW bless Woody Guthrie.
Great stuff
Thanks. Paul Robeson was an All-American Footbal player, the first Black graduate from an Ivy league school - I think Harvard - A Shakespearing actor, and a great singer who spoke twenty languages; not to mention a tireless activist for African American rights, and human rights. He was active before the Civil Rights movement, and was probably the major catalist for that movement. Then he was black-listed by Joseph McCarthy, and his passport was revoked. He was put under house arrest for no crime whatsoever. Now practically nobody even knows his name.
There is a tomato variety named after him. Good tomatoes.
JuanFenito? Where did you get that name? It sounds like a clueless WASP trying very badlly to pass as Hyspanic. In other words a poser, and perhaps even our notorious Thrassy Himself! Don't worry Thrassy, they won't even name a turnip after you, under any of your names.
There is no more Thrassymaque, the notorious bully, here anymore under that name. He was banned, and for VERY good reasons. Now he's here under a slew on brand new user names.
Whenrever someone posts something that reeks of professional sophistry, and pstch-ops distoetion, with a new username, you've probably got your man, or one of his operatives.
> "Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'-I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build-why, I'll be there."
Thanks Matt.
Matt, will you help me get this goon to stop claiming I am someone I am not? Jart could check the IP address, I guess.
only you can vouch for yourself
What? Are you saying the tomato variety isn't real? And for the last time, I am not "Thrassy".
Why the anger? What did I say?
One more truely great, and very relevent song for today, by Woody Guthrie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=GTnVMulDTYA&NR=1
what a great thread -
I just watched Bound for Glory
Woodie is [ yes is ] an amazing American OWS actions should sing this kind of music OFTEN Another favorite - Les Mis [ slight edit ]
Les Miserables: DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of working men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
We must take our nation back
from the greedy millionaires
Then join in the fight
To restart our democracy
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of working men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
Will you give all you can give
So that our people may advance
A nation of working men -
not the corporate elite
United we must stand
only together we can win!
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of working men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
I think news reports about OWS street actions
would be much longer if our message was CLEARLY sung
Thanks, I'm not familiar with this song, but I really like the lyrics. Another two great singers, now largely forgotton, are Paul Robeson and Theodore Bikel. They were both multi-lingual and sang songs from many different countries. It would probably be hard to find the international folk music of Bikel now, but it was great.
I think our best current folk song writer is Lenny Cohen. These folk songs are an important legacy for a democratic movement. They tie us to a long history of resistance to oppression.
I know of Robeson & Bikel well. I knew the lady who drove Robeson to Peekskill I always hoped James Earl Jones would star in a movie about Paul Robeson WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jWwpc_a_fo&feature=player_embedded
OR http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=do%20you%20hear%20the%20people%20sing%20youtube&tnr=21&vid=1502934992061&l=108&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D1502934992061%26id%3D11a8d4791276a1c435b5534f42991ce5%26bid%3DwTufhNhQxqqYlQ%26bn%3DThumb%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.youtube.com%252fwatch%253fv%253dyL_OeeWk0RU&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DyL_OeeWk0RU&sigr=11anhj8vi&newfp=1&tit=Do+You+Hear+The+People+Sing+-+Les+Mis%2C+25th+Anniversary
Wow, this is great stuff! Thanks!
Any relation to Arlo Guthrie? "Ridin' on the City of New Orlean's... Illinois central, Monday morning rail... "
Woody was Arlo's father, and one of the greatest songwirters in America. He was an Okie who got blasted by the dustbowl and made the trail of tears to California, where he worked as an agricultural laborer. They piled the excess crops on the ground and covered them with creosote so the Okies couldn't feed their starving children. They were paid a dollar a day if they were lucky enough to find work at all. A lot of them starved to death.
Woody spent most of his life as a hobo riding the rails. He was finally recognized as a genius, shortly before he died of Huntington's Corea, a degenerative nerve disease.
He wrote a great autobiography called "Bound For Glory." His most famous song, although not his best, was "This Land Is Your Land."
Thanks Gypsy! Love it. Your post there is filled with some grapes of wrath. Reminds me of Tom Joad looked upon by the turtle who's trying to escape the heat.
Oh yes, very similar story, and a wakeup call to us all!
I will never stop re-reading the Joad's epic story, and I understand Steinbecks intent on portions of the tale, showing how unions are a good thing, but I do not believe that Steinbeck would approve of the current actions of our union leaders, and our country's leadership in general. He believed that unions are supposed to help the everyday worker, not just the union leadership. Increasingly, the worker is shit on, while the union leaders make out like bandits.
Ever happen to look at the disparity between a union leaders pay and the average union worker? It's much greater than the disparity between the 'rich' and the middle class in America.
No doubt the unions, at least most of them, became corrupt. But I really think J. Edgar Hoover was behind that. The mafia had blackmailed him because he was a gay transvestite and they had photographs to prove it; plus he was anti-union himself. And so he allowed the unions to be infiltrated by the mafia, whom he insisted didn't really exist. That was a coffin nail in American Labor rights.
Arlo's father.
Yes, Arlo's father.
'h' : WG's "Jolly Banker" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdyLb7ouXUU . pax .