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)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

More at Boing Boing

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The Snowden Principle

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.
http://storyspieler.net 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!
http://profile.yahoo.com/HLTNE3UROXDBIKCLXFPIYYL7WQ 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.
http://twitter.com/pnh 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.