‘We Have to Rise Above Argument and Politics’: U2 Accept Woody Guthrie Prize

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/u2-bono-the-edge-woody-guthrie-prize-1235452049/

#OTD #WoodyGuthrie #MusicWomenWednesday

On this date, October 22 of 1934, the famous outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd was gunned down by federal agents.

Woody Guthrie penned a song about the outlaw, a song that’s been covered many times. Here is a straightforward, but excellent version by Rosanne Cash.

“Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdlB4hdZ5mU

https://theconversation.com/the-troubling-relevance-of-woody-guthries-new-album-released-58-years-after-his-death-267240

#musica #folk #WoodyGuthrie

History doesn't so much repeat as it does custom changes

https://youtu.be/_qjcZKAbCdA?si=BScRiLsEsbljW_nz

#woodyguthrie #fascists #dressforsuccess

#WoodyGuthrie

"A new album by Woody Guthrie (1912–1967), perhaps the most influential US folk artist, was released late last summer. *Woody at Home, Vol. 1 & 2* contains songs – some already known, others previously unreleased – the artist recorded from 1951 to 1952 on a tape recorder he received from his publisher. A version of the famous 'This Land Is Your Land' (1940), with new verses, is among the tracks.

The release reflects the continuing vitality of Woody Guthrie in the United States. There is an ongoing process of updating and redefining his figure and artistic legacy – one that does not always take into account the singer’s radicalism but sometimes accentuates his patriotism.

The story of 'This Land Is Your Land' is a case in point. There are versions of the song containing verses critical of private property, and others without them. The first version of 'This Land' became almost an unofficial anthem of the US and, over the years, has been used in various political contexts, sometimes resulting in appropriations and reinterpretations. In 1960, it was played at the Republican national convention that nominated Richard Nixon for president, and in 1988, Republican candidate George H. W. Bush used it in his presidential campaign.

(. . .)

Guthrie’s activism sought to overcome racial discrimination. This was no small feat for the son of a man said to have been a member of the Ku Klux Klan and a fervent anti-communist, who may have taken part in a lynching in 1911.

Moreover, Woody himself, upon arriving in California in the latter half of the 1930s, carried with him a racist legacy reflected in certain songs – such as his performance of the racist version of 'Run, N____r Run', a popular song in the South, which he sang on his own radio show in 1937. Afterward, the artist received a letter from a Black listener expressing her deep resentment over the singer’s use of the word “n____r'. Guthrie was so moved that he read the letter on the air and apologized."

https://theconversation.com/the-troubling-relevance-of-woody-guthries-new-album-released-58-years-after-his-death-267240

Ted Tocks Covers

Deportee

Updated from July 14, 2018

“Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, “They are just deportees”

#woodyguthrie #JoanBaez #PeteSeeger #bobdylan #brucespringsteen #TheHighwaymen #DollyParton #arloguthrie  #MartinHoffman

https://tedtockscovers.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/deportee/