Woody Guthrie would have voted for Obama. Here's why...

[skooooo]

http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/guthrie.html
(from script for opening broadcast of WNEW radio show on 12/3/44)


"I hate a song that makes you think you're not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are either too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that...Songs that run you down or songs that poke fun of you on account of your bad luck or your hard traveling. I am out to fight these kinds of songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter how hard it's run you down nor rolled over you, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and your work. And the songs I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you."

---

.ie message of hope.

[Donnachaidh]

1. he would have voted for EDWARDS n/t

[skooooo]

2. unfortunately not a practical option anymore...

I liked Edwards the best too, but I support Obama now.

[movonne]

9. I wanted Edwards too....I am voting for Obama because I just don't

want Hillary...I like Hillary but not for president...

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. We have a What Would Woody Do music event here once a month

http://whatwouldwoodydo.org/

[skooooo]

5. cool! thanks for this. nt

[no name no slogan]

4. Too bad Arlo Guthrie is supporting Ron Paul

Pete Seeger was behind Kucinich in 2004.

[asdjrocky]

12. Has Mercer decided to endorse yet?

[no name no slogan]

14. NEVER. He's already President of the United States

all three

:D

[asdjrocky]

15. Damn, I really have to pay more attention to his site-

all three
:D

[jefferson_dem]

6. Word!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD-GHye9ohA&feature=related

John Henry Lyrics by Woody Guthrie

John Henry when he was a baby
settin' on his mammy's knee
picked up an hammer in his little right hand
Said "Hammer be the death of me me me,
hammer be the death of me!"

Some say he's born in Texas
Some say he's born up in Maine
I just say he was a Louisiana man
Leader of a steel-driving chain gang
leader on a steel-driving gang

"Well", the captain said to John Henry
"I'm gonna bring my steam drill around
gonna whup that steel on down down down
whup that steel on down!"

John Henry said to the captain (what he say?)
"You can bring your steam drill around
gonna bring my steam drill out on the job
I'll beat your steam drill down down down
beat your steam drill down!"

John Henry said to his Shaker
"Shaker you had better pray
If you miss your six feet of steel
It'll be your buryin' day day day
It'll be your buryin' day!"

Now the Shaker said to John Henry
"Man ain't nothing but a man
but before I'd let that steam drill beat me down
I'd die with an hammer in my hand hand hand
I'd die with an hammer in my hand!"

John Henry had a little woman
Her name was Polly Anne
John Henry took sick and was laid up in bed
While Polly handled steel like a man man man
Polly handled steel like a man.

They took John Henry to the graveyard
laid him down in the sand
Every locomotive comin' a-rolling by by by
hollered "there lies a steel-drivin' man man man
there lies a steel-drivin' man!"

[skooooo]

8. uh..i don't get it....

are you being sarcastic? :shrug:

[jefferson_dem]

10. No. I'm being serious.

We agree. :hi:

Peel back a layer and Woody was a died-in-the-wool "hope monger."

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Here's the real reason ...

You like Obama and Guthrie, and you realize that most hipsters love Guthrie as well.

So you figure you can link the two, so more Guthrie fans will fall into line.

However, it didn't work on me.

I heard essentially the same argument being made for why John Lennon would vote for Obama.

Reagan, Bush, and John McCain have all made similar arguments for co-opting the music of Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and U2.

It's not much more than rock-and-roll necrophilia pressed into political service.

And, yes, if Hillary (or Bill) made a similar claim, I would say the same thing. Because in 1992, I did.

--p!

[comradebillyboy]

11. You can communicate with the dead and get them

to endorse Obama from the grave? Then god has truly anointed him to lead us out of the darkness.

[chieftain]

13. I was watching "Bound for Glory" last night, heard that

and thought the very same thing. This David Carradine movie is both entertaining and instructive. Especially for those of us who were not around for the Great Depression and the battles to form Unions. I heartily recommend this to everyone as a reminder of what traditional GOP values wrought on the country and how we better resist the class warfare and union busting that the RW embraces.

[JackORoses]

16. "Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song. 'Bout a funny ol' world that's a-comin' along."

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I 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.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

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.