Happy 100th birthday, Woody Guthrie!

Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday is tomorrow, July 14.

A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or it could be

who's hungry and where their mouth is or

who's out of work and where the job is or

who's broke and where the money is or

who's carrying a gun and where the peace is.

"Woody Guthrie Centennial: 1912-2012"

"At 100, Woody Guthrie Still Resonates" (NPR)

"Woody Guthrie: Photos of An American Treasure" (LIFE)

• [cbwallday]

  I prefer the version with this verse:

  There was a big high wall there, that tried to stop me.
  Sign was painted, said private property.
  But on the back side, it didn’t say nothing.
  This land was made for you and me.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

  • [David Pescovitz]

    Me too! I updated my post. Thanks for finding it.

  • [Ultan]

    But still missing the even more rarely heard verses:
    

    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.
    

• [RadioSilence]

  Time to give the Mermaid Avenue album a spin.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBL5uQt5Rw&feature=related

• [jeligula]

  This from my twelve year old nephew in 1993:

  This land is my land
  No, it ain’t your land
  You better get off
  Or I’ll blow your head off
  I’ve got a shotgun
  And you ain’t got one
  This land was made for me
  Not you.

  This cracked me up as I had never heard it before.  As kids, we were experts at crap like this, subverting the establishment for our own amusement.

  Honestly, without Woody Guthrie to inspire him at a young age, we may never have had a Joe Strummer, and that would have been truly tragic as we would not have known what was missing.  RIP Joe and Woody.  Your examples of humanity will resound for centuries to come.

• [Roy Trumbull]

  People with talent can be difficult. It was said everyone was happy to see Woody come and that joy was doubled when he left again. He wasn’t here to make us comfortable. Let’s not cast him in bronze. He was human damnit!

• [J]

  Billy Bragg at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (Woodyfest) in Okemah, Okla:
  http://youtu.be/Ckd-V48fGLc?hd=1 

  • [pushmonk]

    This fest happens every year, and it’s one of the few things that makes living in Oklahoma pretty great at times.

• [P Nielsen Hayden]

  Woody Guthrie’s birthday is not “tomorrow, July 13″, it’s today, July 14.

• [coiled embrace]

  http://dangerousminds.net/comments/shocking_was_woody_guthrie_a_racist

• [Ultan]

   Many people have not heard his songs other than  “This Land is Your Land”, though he wrote dozens and dozens that were just as good. He had a real knack for rhyming couplets; here are a few:
  

  Oh, the gamblin’ man is rich an’ the workin’ man is poor,
  And I ain’t got no home in this world anymore.
  *
  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.
  *
  Tell the miners’ kids and wives,
  There’s a blast in the number five. 
  *
  I’ve heard it said bout rolling stone boys
  Gather no moss in their life
  I’ll tell you the bee that gets the honey
  Ain’t the bee that hangs around the hive.
  *
  Every spot on earth I trapse around
  Every spot I walk  it’s holy ground
  *
  I got no fears of life
  I got no fears of death

  I’m here on my deathbed
  Breathin’ my last breath
  *
  When my good friends gather around me
  Where my graveyard flowers grow
  In my grave I be there sleeping
  Listening to that wind that blows.