Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912–October 3, 1967) was a prolific American songwriter and folk musician. He described himself in one of his songs as "The Great Historical Bum", a first hand observer and survivor of the economic and environmental hardships of the Dust Bowl, which shook the Great Plains states during the Great Depression. Guthrie's body of music consists of hundreds of songs, ballads and improvised works. The breadth of his song topics ranged from political and traditional songs to children's songs. Guthrie performed constantly throughout his life; his guitar frequently sported the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists". He is perhaps best known for his song "This Land Is Your Land". Many of his songs are archived in recordings in the Library of Congress and some such as "This Land" are regularly sung in US schools. He occasionally had regular radio shows and was a founding member of The Almanac Singers.

Woody Guthrie traveled across the USA many times and spent much of his time on early trips learning traditional folk and blues songs and creating new American folk songs of working people. His travels frequently followed the movement of migrant workers across the great plains and in California. He was associated with and regularly performed for, but was never a member of, several Communist groups in the US throughout his life. He had a great many odd jobs including sign painter, radio host, fruit picker, sailor, dish-washer, and soldier in the US army.

He was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie and is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Later in life, he developed symptoms of the degenerative neurologic affliction, Huntington's disease. Like his mother, he eventually died from complications of this fatal congenital disease. In spite of his illness, during his later years, he served as a figurehead in the folk movement providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Bob Dylan and Ramblin' Jack Elliot.

Biography

Early life

Woody Guthrie's birthplace
Okfuskee County, OK

Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma to Nora Belle Sherman and Charles Edward Guthrie. His parents named him after Woodrow Wilson, who was elected president in the 1912 election the same year Guthrie was born. His life seemed to be full of tragedy. His sister Clara died in a fire at their house when Guthrie was only seven. His father was also severely burned in a separate incident, while his mother was committed to the Oklahoma Hospital for the Insane, where she later died of Huntington's disease, the same genetic disease Guthrie would eventually die of. It is suspected his grandfather (Nora's father, George Sherman) also suffered from this disease due to the circumstances of his death.

Dust Bowl traveling era

At age 19, he left home for Texas, where he met and married his first wife, Mary Jennings, with whom he had three children. Their relationship was always strained and Woody's constant traveling and moving of the family eventually wore down Mary's resolve; they were eventually divorced. He used his musical talents to earn money as a street musician and by doing small gigs.

He left Texas and his family with the coming of the Dust Bowl era, following the Okies to California. The poverty he saw on these early trips affected him greatly, and many of his songs are concerned with the conditions faced by the working class.

Radio years

"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."

Written by Guthrie in the late 1930s on a songbook distributed to listeners of his L.A. radio show "Woody and Lefty Lou" who wanted the words to his recordings.

In the late 1930s, Guthrie achieved fame in Los Angeles, California, with radio partner Maxine "Lefty Lou" Crissman as a broadcast performer of commercial "hillbilly" music and traditional folk music. While appearing on radio station KFVD, a commercial radio station owned by a populist-minded New Deal Democrat, Guthrie also began to write and perform some of the protest songs that would eventually end up on Dust Bowl Ballads. In 1939, Guthrie moved to New York City and was embraced by its leftist and folk music community. He also made perhaps his first real recordings: several hours of conversation and songs, recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress, as well as an album, Dust Bowl Ballads, for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey. He began writing his autobiography, Bound for Glory, which was completed and published in 1943. The film adaptation was released in 1976.

In February 1940, Guthrie penned his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land". Originally titled "God Blessed America"; It was inspired in part by his experiences during a cross-country trip and in part by his distaste for the Irving Berlin song "God Bless America", which he considered unrealistic and complacent (and he was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio). The melody is based on the gospel song "When the World's on Fire," best known as sung by the country group The Carter Family around 1930. Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verses:

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;

By the relief office, I'd seen my people.

As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,

Is this land made for you and me?

As I went walking, I saw a sign there,

And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing." [In another version, the sign reads "Private Property"]

But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!

That side was made for you and me.

These verses were often omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself. Though the song was written in 1940, it would be four years before it was recorded by Moses Asch in April, 1944. And even longer until sheet music was produced and given to schools by Howie Richmond.

The Pacific Northwest, 1941

Under the impression that a documentary of an influential American songwriter was to be created, Guthrie moved to the Pacific northwest. The film was never made, but some good did come of the move when, in May 1941, Guthrie was commissioned by the Department of the Interior and its Bonneville Power Administration to write songs about the Columbia River and the building of the federal dams; the best known of these are "Roll On Columbia" and "Grand Coulee Dam."

Woody Guthrie, 1943

The Almanac Singers

Following the conclusion of the project, Guthrie corresponded with Pete Seeger about his newly formed folk-protest group, the Almanac Singers. Woody returned to New York with plans to join the group and tour the country. The singers originally worked out of a loft in New York City hosting regular concerts. They eventually outgrew this space and everyone moved into the cooperative Almanac House in Greenwich Village.

Guthrie at first helped write and sing what the Almanacs termed "peace" songs (mostly pro-Communist, pro-isolationist), but after America's entry into World War II the focus quickly became anti-fascist.

It was at this time Woody met his future second wife Marjorie Mazia.

The Asch recordings

In 1944, Guthrie met Moses "Moe" Asch of Folkways Records, for whom he first recorded "This Land Is Your Land," "Worried Man Blues," along with hundreds of other songs over the next few years. These would later be released in several pressings by Folkways and Stinson Records. (They had joint distribution rights to the recordings).

World War II years

Woody unsuccessfully lobbied the US Army to avoid the draft, believing his anti-fascist songs and poems were the best use of his talents in the war. When this failed, pressured by his friend Cisco Houston, Guthrie along with Jim Longhi joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. Woody served as a mess man and dish washer, but would frequently entertain and keep up the spirits of the crew and troops on the trans-Atlantic voyages. Jim Longhi would later write about these experiences in his book Woody, Cisco and Me. It offers a rare first hand account of Guthrie during this period. Guthrie's association with communism would eventually render him ineligible for further service in the Merchant Marine in 1945, causing him to be drafted into the U.S. Army near the end of the war.

Woody and Marjorie were married while he was on furlough from the Army. After his discharge, they moved into a house on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, and together had four children—including Cathy, his daughter who died at age four in a fire, sending him into a serious depression. Woody and Marjorie's other children were named Joady, Nora and Arlo. Later, Arlo became a famous singer-songwriter in his own right. During this period, Guthrie wrote and recorded Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child, a collection of children's music, which includes the song "Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')," written when his son was about nine years old.

The 1948 crash of a plane carrying 28 Mexican farm workers from Oakland, California, on their way to be deported back to Mexico inspired the song "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)."

Post-War years: Deteriorating health

By the late 1940s, Guthrie's health was worsening and his behavior becoming extremely erratic. He received various diagnoses (including alcoholism and schizophrenia), but was finally diagnosed to be suffering from Huntington's disease in 1952, the genetic disorder that had caused the death of his mother. Upon his release from the hospital, Marjorie Mazia would not take him back, calling him a danger to the children's well-being.

While in California, Woody lived in a compound owned by Will Geer and some other old folk singer types. He met his third wife, Anneke Van Kirk, and had another child, Lorina Lynn. The couple moved to Florida briefly, before eventually returning to New York in 1954. Shortly after that, Anneke filed for divorce, citing the strain of caring for Woody. Anneke left New York and Lorina Lynn was adopted by friends of hers. After the divorce, Marjorie, who had continued to keep tabs on Woody, returned to his life to care for him and assisted him until his condition worsened.

Woody, increasingly unable to control his muscle movements, was hospitalized at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital from 1956 to 1961, at Brooklyn State Hospital until 1966, and finally at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.

Folk revival

In the late 1950s and early 1960s a new generation of young people inspired by Woody, Pete Seeger, Cisco Houston and other folk singers had become more politically aware, following the tense climate of the 1950s. The American Folk Revival was beginning to take place, focused on the issues of the day, such as the civil rights movement and free speech movement. One of the first people to visit Woody was Bob Dylan. Dylan idolized Guthrie, calling him his hero. Soon after learning of Woody's whereabouts, these new-folk singers would regularly visit him in Brooklyn during the final years of his life, playing his own songs for him as well as their new ballads. He very much enjoyed these sessions. His older friends would join in occasionally, but due to his condition they found it difficult to maintain the composure of his young fans. By this point Woody's sickness heavily slurred his speech and altered his movements. Woody died of complications from Huntington's in 1967.

After Guthrie's death

Guthrie's death raised awareness about Huntington's Disease. In 1967 his ex-wife, Marjorie Guthrie, helped found the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease, which became the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Guthrie's condition was misdiagnosed and proper treatment delayed because little was known about Huntington's Disease at the time.

A statue honoring Guthrie was erected in Memorial Park on Main Street in his hometown of Okemah. Also in Okemah, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival celebrates his legacy each summer. It is produced by the Woody Guthrie Coalition, founded by his sister, Mary Jo Edgmon.

Guthrie's influence

Prolific writer

He was a prolific writer throughout his life and wrote thousands of pages of unpublished poems and prose. Guthrie completed several novels in his lifetime, the most famous is Bound for Glory, which is loosely autobiographical. He also eventually completed a heavily edited version of Seeds of Man, a book of poetry called Born to Win and several songbooks. His 'Woody Sez' columns from The Daily Worker were also published as a collection posthumously. In addition to his rambling biography, Woody attempted several times to write about his experience in the Merchant Marine, he was never satisfied with the results, Bound For Glory was released in no small part due to the patient editing assistance of Marjorie Mazia, without her help on subsequent novels many of his writing projects were never completed.

Politics

Guthrie is frequently associated with left-ist or Socialist politics. Conservatives frequently criticized the ostensibly Communist leanings of Guthrie's work; although he was never actually a member of the party, he did express sympathy towards the party many times, which was not unusual among 1930s folk singers. Steve Earle said of Woody, "I don't think of Woody Guthrie as a political writer. He was a writer who lived in very political times".

He frequently donated money made from his music gigs and busking to help various peoples and causes. A lifelong socialist and trade unionist, he also contributed a regular column, "Woody Sez," to the Daily Worker and People's World newspapers. He was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) Union for some years. His association with communists would eventually render him ineligible for service in the merchant marine in 1945 and eventually lead to his and other folk singers' blacklisting during the anti-communist 1950s-60s.

Protégés

Ramblin' Jack Elliott studied extensively with Guthrie, visiting his Mermaid Ave home and watching him write. Elliott, like Bob Dylan later, idolized Guthrie and was inspired by his idiomatic performance style and repertoire. Due to Guthrie's illness, Dylan and Guthrie's son Arlo learned much of Guthrie's performance style from Elliott. Asked about this teaching, Elliott said, "I was flattered. Dylan learned from me the same way I learned from Woody. Woody didn't teach me. He just said, If you want to learn something, just steal it — that's the way I learned from Lead Belly.".

Musical influence

"I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.

I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.

I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work."

Woody on Songwriting

By the time of Guthrie's death, his work had been discovered by a new audience, introduced to them in part through Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Marjorie Guthrie, other new members of the folk revival, and his son Arlo. Since his death many artists have paid tribute to Guthrie by covering his songs or dedication.

Guthrie's catalogue never brought him many awards while he was alive, but in 2000 was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously.

Several groups have recorded versions of Woody's songs, particularly "This Land Is Your Land". Bob Dylan, The Wayfarers, Glenn Yarborough, the Kingston Trio, the Brothers Four, the Limelighters, the New Christy Minstrels, Peter, Paul and Mary, Trini Lopez, Harry Belafonte, Jay and the Americans, Glen Campbell, Billy Bragg, Bing Crosby, the Staple Singers, Tex Ritter, Connie Francis, Country Joe McDonald, Paul Anka, Jim Croce, the Mike Curb Congregation, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Nightwatchman all recorded versions of "This Land Is Your Land". In 1962, Bob Dylan wrote "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie", a long tribute poem and included "Song to Woody" on his first, eponymous album. In 1964, Phil Ochs's debut album, All the News That's Fit to Sing, included the song "Bound for Glory," a tribute to Guthrie and a criticism of revisionism and ignorance among modern audiences who preferred to forget some of Guthrie's more controversial lyrics. With the release of Donovan's 1965 debut album "Catch the Wind", the folk singer included a cover of the Woody Guthrie staple "Car Song". In 1971, Joan Baez first began publicly performing Guthrie's song "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)." She continues performing it, most recently releasing it on her 2005 live album Bowery Songs. Baez and Bob Dylan both played the song as a duet on his ill fated 1976 TV special Hard Rain.Bruce Springsteen recorded "This Land Is Your Land" live at the Nassau Coliseum and is included on the Live/1975-85 album(1986). The band Blackfire released their "Woody Guthrie Singles" in 2003. The Colorado-based band, Leftover Salmon, honored Guthrie on their 2004 self-titled release with the song "Woody Guthrie". Woody Guthrie is a featured part of the band Son Volt's 2005 album Okemah and the Melody of Riot and is mentioned by name in the first track on that album, "Bandages & Scars". Old Crow Medicine Show released a cover of Guthrie's "Union Maid" on their album Big Iron World. The Dropkick Murphys covered "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" on their 2005 CD, The Warrior's Code.

Several works have been composed in tribute to Woody. Alabama 3's song called "Woody Guthrie". Freakwater released a song called "Cathy Ann" on their album Thinking of You about the tragic death of Guthrie's daughter. In 2006, the band The Casualties album Under Attackincludes the song "In It For Life" that is dedicated to Guthrie.

During the early 1970s, before adopting the name of Joe Strummer and founding The Clash, a young John Mellor began calling himself "Woody Mellor," derived, apparently, from Woody Guthrie. Bob Geldof's band, the Boomtown Rats, took their name from a page in Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory. In 1996 the tribute album 'Til We Outnumber 'Em: Live From Cleveland was released, artists it featured performing Guthrie covers were Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, the Indigo Girls, Dave Pirner, Tim Robbins, Bruce Springsteen and Arlo Guthrie.

References

References to Woody Guthrie in Punk rock and other activist music are common. Among the most notable are the song by Anti-Flag titled This Machine Kills Fascists after the label on Woody Guthrie's guitar. The guitar is also referenced by The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello's alter-ego) in the song Maximum Firepower with the line "This machine kills fascists, too." Tom Morello has often compared the Nightwatchman to Woody himself.

Woody Guthrie archive

Woody's extensive notebooks and writings were archived and maintained by his estate. Anyone can visit the archives by appointment.

Guthrie's extensive archive of unrecorded written material has been the starting point of several albums. In 1998 and 2000 musicians Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Billy Bragg released Mermaid Avenue and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II. This project was initated by Woody's daughter Nora. In 2000, Slaid Cleaves included the song, "This Morning I Am Born Again", on his album, Broke Down, using lyrics from the archive. In 2001, Frankie Fuchs produced Daddy-O Daddy, rare family songs from lyrics written by Woody, set to music from musicians including Joe Ely and Taj Mahal. In 2003, Hans-Eckardt Wenzel released English and German versions of the album, Ticky Tock featuring lyrics adapted from the archive. In 2003 and 2005 respectively, Joel Rafael released, Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie, and Woodyboye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie And Tales Worth Telling, Vol. 2, which include a mix of Woody Guthrie songs, songs created from the lyric archive and Rafael's own stories and songs. In 2004, Janis Ian released "I Hear You Sing Again." based on unreleased Guthrie lyrics. In 2006, the Klezmatics released Wonder Wheel, which melds their unique take on klezmer with the Guthrie's lyrics. Another album of Guthrie material, entitled Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah, was released via JMG in August 2006. The Dropkick Murphys recorded an unreleased song of his, titled 'Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight' on their 2003 album Blackout. Anti-Flag released "This Machine Kills Fascists" after a visit to the Archive. Subsequently, they recorded "Post-War Breakout," a song featuring archive lyrics penned by Woody Guthrie. Ellis Paul recorded "God's Promise" on his Album "Speed of Trees". The lyrics were discovered after a visit to the archives, with Ellis Paul writing the music to accompany it. Eliza Gilkyson arranged music to the lyrics for the song "Peace Call" from the archive, it appears on her album Land of Milk and Honey.

The Woody Guthrie Archives, in September 2007, self released a live recording of Guthrie from a 1949 performance. Titled "THE LIVE WIRE: Woody Guthrie In Performance 1949", This is one of the few recordings of live performance by Guthrie.

See also

• Bound for Glory (book) The autobiography of Woody Guthrie
• Bound for Glory (film), 1976 film starring David Carradine as Guthrie (and based upon Guthrie's autobiography of the same name)
• Pretty Boy Floyd
• Huntington's disease
• USS Reuben James (DD-245)

External links

• The Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives
• The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
• Pop Matters on the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival
• Documentary American Masters Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home
• Allmusic.com entry for Woody Guthrie
• Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song: Correspondence, 1940-1950 Eighty-four pages of manuscript material by, about, and to Woody Guthrie
• Timeline of Guthrie's life
• MP3 recording of "This Land Is Your Land" - University of Virginia
• Hudson River Sloop Woody Guthrie, A Hudson River Ferry sloop operated by the Beacon Sloop Club
• Link to Woody's granddaughter
• Prophet Singer: The Voice and Vision of Woodie Guthrie
• Pete Seeger remembers Woody Guthrie, An interview with Pete Seeger (Real Audio file)
• Steve Earle on Woody Guthrie, A piece that appeared in The Nation magazine, July, 2003
• Woody Guthrie at Rolling Stone
• Recording of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly live on WNYC Radio, Dec. 1940, with commentary by radio producer Henrietta Yurchenco
• Scanned images of some of Woody Guthrie's original manuscripts