Okla-homey
2/23/2007, 07:34 AM
February 23, 1940 Woody Guthrie writes "This Land is Your Land"
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2258/zzzzzzzz3c13276v0ov.jpg
On this day 67 years ago, folk singer Woody Guthrie writes one of his best-known songs, "This Land is Your Land."
Born in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1912, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie lived and wrote of the real West, a place of hard-working people and harsh environments rather than romantic cowboys and explorers. Though he was a son of a successful politician and businessman, during his early teens his mother fell ill and the family split apart.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2193/zzzzzzzz129493pv4bn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Guthrie's birthplace in Okemah photographed in 1979. I have no idea if it still stands.
For several years, Guthrie spent his summers working as a migrant agricultural laborer. When he was 15, he left home to travel the country by freight train. Among his meager possessions were a guitar and harmonica. Guthrie discovered an eager audience among the hobos and migrant workers for the country-folk songs he had learned in Oklahoma.
In 1937, he traveled to California where he hoped to become a successful western singer. He appeared on several West Coast radio shows, mostly performing traditional folk songs. Soon, though, he began to perform his own pieces based on his experiences living among the vast armies of the poor and dispossessed created by the Great Depression.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6872/zzzzzzzzwoody6vk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
While in California he also came into contact with the socialists and became increasingly sympathetic to their causes. Many of his songs reflected a strong commitment to the common working people, and he became something of a musical spokesman for populist sentiments.
It should be noted that Oklahoma was a veritable hotbed of American populism since its earliest history. By 1920, the thirteen year old state contained the highest per capita ratio of populists in the United States. Thus, Guthrie was in this way, a fairly typical rural Oklahoman.
Ellen Rosen, in her book "Socialism in Oklahoma: A Theoretical Overview." contends Oklahoma farmers turned to populism as a way of gaining control of the land, although they rejected collectivization of it as espoused under outright socialism.
The magnum opus on western populism came in 1931 with John D. Hick's "The Populist Revolt." Writing as the nation sank into the Great Depression, Hicks emphasized economic pragmatism over ideals and presented Populism as "interest group politics," with have-nots demanding their fair share of the nation's bounty. Hicks argued that financial manipulations, deflation, high interest rates, mortgage foreclosures, unfair railroad practices, and a high protective tariff unjustly impoverished farmers. Corruption accounted for such outrages and Populists presented popular control of government as the solution. Woody Guthrie set these ideas to music.
At its heart, Okie populists and even those Okies who subsequently embraced socialism were patriotic Americans who eschewed state ownership of land, but wanted an alternative to "might makes right" and the unfettered political power of the wealthy in OUr state.
As an aside, Thomas P. Gore (for whom the town of Gore OK is named) served as a Senator from Oklahoma from 1907 to 1921 and from 1931 to 1937. As a progressive Democrat with a Populist past, Gore advocated Federal assistance for rural areas even before World War I, one the earliest American politicians to do so.
"This Land is Your Land," reflected not only Guthrie's support for the common folk, but also his deep love for his country. The verse celebrated the beauty and grandeur of America while the chorus drove home the populist sentiment that the nation belonged to all the people, not merely the rich and powerful.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7479/zzzzzzzzwoodyguthrielg5uo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Probably the most famous of his more than 1,000 songs, "This Land is Your Land" was also one of his last. Later that year Guthrie moved to New York where his career was soon after interrupted by World War II. After serving in the US Merchant Marine, he returned to New York, where he continued to perform and record his old material, but he never matched his earlier prolific output.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8568/zzzzzzzzzzguthcnn6gs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Guthrie's career was cut short in 1954, when he was struck with Huntington's Disease, a degenerative illness of the nervous system that had killed his mother. His later years were spent in a New York hospital where he received visitors like the adoring young Bob Dylan, who copied much of his early style from Guthrie.
Guthrie died in 1967, having lived long enough to see his music inspire a whole new generation and "This Land is Your Land" become a rallying song for the Civil Rights movement. Everyone has heard the first several verses, but the last two are pretty "edgy" and aren't sung much anymore.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4269/zzzzzzzwoodyguthrie7ih.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
I've roamed and rambled and I've 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
Chorus
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
Chorus
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
Chorus (2x)
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6859/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzwoody5wi.gif (http://imageshack.us)
They have a Woody Guthrie Folk Music Festival in Okemah each summer.
Check it out:
http://www.woodyguthrie.com/
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3844/insane7zo7tv.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2258/zzzzzzzz3c13276v0ov.jpg
On this day 67 years ago, folk singer Woody Guthrie writes one of his best-known songs, "This Land is Your Land."
Born in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1912, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie lived and wrote of the real West, a place of hard-working people and harsh environments rather than romantic cowboys and explorers. Though he was a son of a successful politician and businessman, during his early teens his mother fell ill and the family split apart.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2193/zzzzzzzz129493pv4bn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Guthrie's birthplace in Okemah photographed in 1979. I have no idea if it still stands.
For several years, Guthrie spent his summers working as a migrant agricultural laborer. When he was 15, he left home to travel the country by freight train. Among his meager possessions were a guitar and harmonica. Guthrie discovered an eager audience among the hobos and migrant workers for the country-folk songs he had learned in Oklahoma.
In 1937, he traveled to California where he hoped to become a successful western singer. He appeared on several West Coast radio shows, mostly performing traditional folk songs. Soon, though, he began to perform his own pieces based on his experiences living among the vast armies of the poor and dispossessed created by the Great Depression.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6872/zzzzzzzzwoody6vk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
While in California he also came into contact with the socialists and became increasingly sympathetic to their causes. Many of his songs reflected a strong commitment to the common working people, and he became something of a musical spokesman for populist sentiments.
It should be noted that Oklahoma was a veritable hotbed of American populism since its earliest history. By 1920, the thirteen year old state contained the highest per capita ratio of populists in the United States. Thus, Guthrie was in this way, a fairly typical rural Oklahoman.
Ellen Rosen, in her book "Socialism in Oklahoma: A Theoretical Overview." contends Oklahoma farmers turned to populism as a way of gaining control of the land, although they rejected collectivization of it as espoused under outright socialism.
The magnum opus on western populism came in 1931 with John D. Hick's "The Populist Revolt." Writing as the nation sank into the Great Depression, Hicks emphasized economic pragmatism over ideals and presented Populism as "interest group politics," with have-nots demanding their fair share of the nation's bounty. Hicks argued that financial manipulations, deflation, high interest rates, mortgage foreclosures, unfair railroad practices, and a high protective tariff unjustly impoverished farmers. Corruption accounted for such outrages and Populists presented popular control of government as the solution. Woody Guthrie set these ideas to music.
At its heart, Okie populists and even those Okies who subsequently embraced socialism were patriotic Americans who eschewed state ownership of land, but wanted an alternative to "might makes right" and the unfettered political power of the wealthy in OUr state.
As an aside, Thomas P. Gore (for whom the town of Gore OK is named) served as a Senator from Oklahoma from 1907 to 1921 and from 1931 to 1937. As a progressive Democrat with a Populist past, Gore advocated Federal assistance for rural areas even before World War I, one the earliest American politicians to do so.
"This Land is Your Land," reflected not only Guthrie's support for the common folk, but also his deep love for his country. The verse celebrated the beauty and grandeur of America while the chorus drove home the populist sentiment that the nation belonged to all the people, not merely the rich and powerful.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7479/zzzzzzzzwoodyguthrielg5uo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Probably the most famous of his more than 1,000 songs, "This Land is Your Land" was also one of his last. Later that year Guthrie moved to New York where his career was soon after interrupted by World War II. After serving in the US Merchant Marine, he returned to New York, where he continued to perform and record his old material, but he never matched his earlier prolific output.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8568/zzzzzzzzzzguthcnn6gs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Guthrie's career was cut short in 1954, when he was struck with Huntington's Disease, a degenerative illness of the nervous system that had killed his mother. His later years were spent in a New York hospital where he received visitors like the adoring young Bob Dylan, who copied much of his early style from Guthrie.
Guthrie died in 1967, having lived long enough to see his music inspire a whole new generation and "This Land is Your Land" become a rallying song for the Civil Rights movement. Everyone has heard the first several verses, but the last two are pretty "edgy" and aren't sung much anymore.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4269/zzzzzzzwoodyguthrie7ih.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
I've roamed and rambled and I've 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
Chorus
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
Chorus
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
Chorus
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
Chorus (2x)
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6859/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzwoody5wi.gif (http://imageshack.us)
They have a Woody Guthrie Folk Music Festival in Okemah each summer.
Check it out:
http://www.woodyguthrie.com/
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3844/insane7zo7tv.jpg