Even Wikipedia doesn't hide it...
[In the 1930s,] while appearing on the commercial radio station KFVD, owned by a populist-minded New Deal Democrat Frank W. Burke, Guthrie began to write and perform some of the protest songs that would eventually appear on Dust Bowl Ballads.It was at KFVD that Guthrie met newscaster Ed Robbin. Robbin was impressed with a song Guthrie wrote about Thomas Mooney, believed by many to be a wrongly convicted man who was, at the time, a leftist cause célèbre. Robbin, who became Guthrie's political mentor, introduced Guthrie to socialists and communists in Southern California, including Will Geer. He remained Guthrie's lifelong friend, and helped Guthrie book benefit performances in the communist circles in Southern California. Notwithstanding Guthrie's later claim that "the best thing that I did in 1936 was to sign up with the Communist Party,"
he was never a member of the Party. He was noted as a fellow traveler—an outsider who agreed with the platform of the party while not subject to party discipline. Guthrie requested to write a column for the Communist newspaper, The Daily Worker. The column, titled "Woody Sez," appeared a total of 174 times from May 1939 to January 1940. "Woody Sez" was not explicitly political, but was about current events as observed by Guthrie. He wrote the columns in an exaggerated hillbilly dialect and usually included a small comic; they were published as a collection after Guthrie's death. Steve Earle said of Guthrie, "I don't think of Woody Guthrie as a political writer. He was a writer who lived in very political times."With the outbreak of World War II and the nonaggression pact the Soviet Union had signed with Germany in 1939, the owners of KFVD radio did not want its staff "spinning apologia" for the Soviet Union. Both Robbin and Guthrie left the station.
“This land is your land
This land is my land
Looks like somebody
Forged the deed to this land”
- Dave Barry
No, Woody, this land is NOT your land. Because you’re not content to let it be MY land as well. You and your thieving communist ilk steal what I own and hand it over to others in the name of “equality” and “compassion.”
Woody was a good-ole-communist boy whose gift to us is still kicking.
My late wife’s Great Uncle grew up with Guthrie. They were from the same town and I assume, went to the same high school. They were also the same age.
One day at a family get-together, one guy was asking him about Woody. I happened to hear when he asked what kind of guy he was.
Well the Uncle paused and thought for just a minute and said: “I guess the best way to describe him, is he was just plain sorry”.
His politics were despicable, but his influence on music was undeniable. His children’s music (”Let’s go riding in the car”) holds up pretty well. “Roll on Columbia” is a nice celebration of progress, although he just wrote the words there and not the tune.
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!
Google's home page for the 4th of July consisted of "Google" in red/blue created by the words "This land is made for you and me" and a cartoon guitar.
That's right. No patriotism; just a communist song by an American communist.
The thing that bugs me most about these ‘sons of the working class’ is that they’re not working class. Sure, they like to wear jeans and talk folksy, but their ideals and bank accounts speak otherwise. There is nothing a leftist likes to do more than wrap themselves in the sweat staing clothes of the working class. Well, that is when they’re not wearing the flag or talking like black folks.
Guthrie was a communist and I toss Springsteen into a nearby pot because he is no Patriot who respects the US values that have made him a multi-millionaire. Bruce S. is a POS!
Help Celebrate "Know Your Commies Day"
According to Wikipedia, his son Arlo (b. 1947), best known probably for his "Alice's Restaurant" song, is a registered Republican and supported Ron Paul in 2008. Arlo's mother is Jewish and he studied for his bar mitzvah with Rabbi Meir Kahane. Maybe not what you would expect of the son of a card-carrying Communist.
Country Joe McDonald was sued for copyright infringement for his song, “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” by the estate of the composer of the song “Muskrat Ramble”. McDonald lost the suit and a lot of money. Just goes to show that the “noble” progressives and communists are not above stealing for their own gain.
This was supposed to be The Summer of George!
No. A Communist never symbolizeed “American Dream.”
Stephen Foster will still be sung long after Guthrie is totally forgotten.
Glazer adds that Woody likely had no idea how timeless the material he was writing would turn out to be.Really? Timeless? Outside of a few aged (formerly aging) hippie never-have-beens in Berkeley, I'd say his stuff is pretty forgettable, and pretty much long forgotten.