A folk artist whose beliefs would still be radical today.
Most famous for his song, “The Land is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie may be a name associated with the American Patriotic spirit, and the song may be used to justify Manifest Destiny. That is, if people remember his name at all. Guthrie’s catalogue goes much deeper than that, and his politics are much different from what one may initially think.
Guthrie was born 114 years ago, but many of his messages are still impactful and radical today.
The folk movement from the 1940’s to the 1960’s was marked by progressive politics. From early folk singers, contemporaries of Guthrie, like Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Jene Ritchie, and Mississippi John Hurt, to the later generation of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.
The songs and beliefs of the folk movement manifested in political action. The group People’s Song aimed to “create, promote, and distribute songs of labor and the American people”.
The folk movement was also tied to anti-racist sentiment in the civil rights movement. For example, Odetta is often referred to as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement” with Martin Luther King Jr. calling her the “Queen of American Folk Music” and many artists (folk and otherwise, includingJoan Baez, Bob Dylan and Maya Angleu ) praising Odetta and her work.
Additionally, Dylan and Baex played at the March on Washington. Many folk artists wrote and covered political songs, including the “times they are a’changing” communist and union sentiments were also common among the movement.
Guthrie was the embodiment of the folk movement and its political undertakings. He famously had “This Machine Kills Fascists” written on his guitar and was frequently associated with communist parties.
His politics appear in his music. A missing verse and another often-omitted verse from “This Land is Your Land” give it a new context for what Guthrie was trying to say.
“There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me.
The sign was painted, said ‘Private Property.’
But on the backside, it didn’t say nothing.
This land was made for you and me.”
“One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple,
by the relief office I saw my people.
As they stood hungry,
I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me.”
Other songs were much more explicit in their political messages including “Tear the Fascists Down,” I’m Gonna Join That One Big Union (You Gotta Go Down and Join the Union),” and “Slip Knot.”
Guthrie even encouraged the violation of the copyright of his songs, writing,
“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.”
Of course, it is impossible to say for sure how people would react if Guthrie were singing and releasing these songs today, but one can speculate that they would likely be controversial in the era of polarization because the issues he sang of are still issues today.
