THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME
Woody Guthrie wrote a song about America, warts and all.
Pete Seeger sang that song with Woody decades and decades ago.
I cry every time I hear this song. I cannot explain it.
There have been movements to make it our National Anthem.
The right wingnuts in this country have at one time or
another labeled Woody, Pete and the song communists,
radicals, unamerican.
Martin Luther King, Jr. led our nation in prayer; a prayer
that called for a new way to look at America and Americans.
Some people would actually laugh at Jesse Jackson's Rainbow
Coalition.
For forty eight hours, that, in my mind is what America
truly is, a Rainbow Coalition.
There are at least twenty verses to Woody's song. In the
older days,Pete has said you would just take anybody's song
and add lyrics. Sometimes lyrics just for the moment.
Here are just a few verses of my National Anthem.
As Woody wrote them.
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.
FOR FORTY EIGHT HOURS, THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME!
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I wonder what lyrics 'just for the moment' Pete Seeger could come up with for Tuesday?
Have you fed your anger yet today, dd? If not, here is a bowl of nuts for breakfast. Have fun and don't get any stuck between your teeth.
January 19, 2009 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, DD quotes some Guthrie and gets me in a good mood and then you come along and twirl my undies all up in a bunch with that link!
Conflicted! ;-)
January 19, 2009 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for stopping in CL. Get back to your good mood. Cause that is where I am going to stay today and tomorrow.
January 19, 2009 9:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's already back :-)
The pissy little whiners on the hard right can throw all the rocks they want. They lost. We won.
BTW If you know any of those types, if they need them I just got done with a whole fresh load of nice clean crying towels.
HA!
January 19, 2009 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was not meaning to twirl anybody's panties (ew). :o) Just pointing out that the wingnuts are not taking the day off.
But, like the rest of you, I am calling a truce for two days...gonna pick through the ole album collection, play some stuff I haven't listened to in a while and maybe uncork a bottle of home made wine.
Vigilance resumes Wednesday.
January 19, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
You and the rest of the troops can celebrate the next two days. I've got a couple of pea-shooters, which should be more than enough to ward off mojo-thieving gremlins like spric. So, I'll gladly take the watch through the inauguration. :)
January 19, 2009 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Boyd, good to see ya. The next two days were meant for you and me.
And all our friends at TPM
January 19, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes indeed, DD. Yes, indeed. :-)
January 19, 2009 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent job you are doing, too!
Advice from an old warrior: If yer only using pea shooters, go for the eyes. ;o)
January 19, 2009 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cuz you know, you're not the center of the World, Barack! You betcha!
January 19, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Also.
*wink*
January 19, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Flower, Flower, Flower. We shall celebrate today and tomorrow. The sore losers can grumble. Those with evil messages shall be ignored.
Let THEM cry in their beer while we drink Champagne and sing songs of victory!!!!
January 19, 2009 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, we will celebrate, my new friend. But, I am an old warrior and it is hard to for me to put down my bow. It can be done, tho. :o)
January 19, 2009 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the link to the original...just hearing it in his voice made me happy...
That is if I still remember how to do a link...
Happy day before inauguration (17:42:14 and counting!) CAN HARDLY WAIT!
January 19, 2009 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
WARNING TROLL OPERATING AHEAD! DO NOT FEED!
January 19, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi Stilli, Hawaii Aloha
January 19, 2009 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aloha, Arthur! Being here is wonderful...we're getting settled in, but I still have plenty of time to read the blogs until the kids get here on Sat...then it will be more difficult!
January 19, 2009 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wrote a poem, new verses just for you and Flower.
Right underneath your comment.
January 19, 2009 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Migwetch, stilli. Aloha!
January 19, 2009 9:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The millions come here, the crowds are varied
Their numbers awe me, their spirits raise me
I see the new face of a brand new country
This land was made for you and me.
As I am walking, I pass monuments
I see the ages turn into moments
I see my hopes, I see my dreams, I see
That this land was made for you and me.
They come from West Coast, they come from East Coast
They come from mountains they come from valleys
They come together for one large purpose
They know that this land was made for you and me.
January 19, 2009 8:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are inspired and inspiring today, dd. Why, you're practically filled with helium! I can feel your smile all way across Wisconsin and Lake Michigan to my place here in the middle of nowhere.
Aho.
January 19, 2009 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am so happy when my friends read my stuff!!!
January 19, 2009 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice poem, DD. Send it in to Josh.
=D
January 19, 2009 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bwak, you make my night. Thank you.
And I have not thanked very many chickens in my life.
January 19, 2009 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Arthur...you are ,indeed, a man of many talents!
January 20, 2009 12:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
More Marxist dribble. Failed everywhere it's been tried. But still, the abominable look forward wistfully to the day millions of us will be slaughtered like every where it's been tried.
January 19, 2009 9:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean, like the millions slaughtered in Iraq?
Oh wait...with murder, like every other crime, IOKIYAR! Fool.
January 19, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
No Boyd,
The millions Marxists starved in the Ukraine, the millions the Marxists worked to death in Siberia, the millions the Marxist Chairman Mao put to death, the hundreds of thousands the Marxist Pol Pot killed. Those millions the Marxists killed, you know?
January 19, 2009 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
In what kind of a fantasy world do you reside, spric? The Reich loses one election and all of a sudden, without any basis whatsoever, you are seeing miilions dead and comparing Obama to Russia, China, and Cambodia. How twisted does you mind have to be to get there from here? Seriously? How much do you have to imagine to take what Obama has said and done to turn him into such a destructive individual as Stalin, Lao or Pol Pot?
Did any of them ever speak the way Obama has? You could see those guys coming miles away taking their nations into fratricide.
If you want to explore these nightmares that bother you, you need to view the side you are defending. Since where is there a "free speech zone" in America? This nation is a free speech zone, from sea to shining sea. Since when does Congress meet in the middle of the night like thieves? Since when are people arrested and detained without charges, in the US, because The Party is having a convention in Minneapolis?
How is torture an American value? How is wiretapping not a breech of privacy?
Spric, you go write a blog that addresses these travesties of freedom and we would discuss it. Until then, you'rejust some whoopie cushion and the people here are going to sit on you every time you post some stupid accusation comparing Obama to the monsters of the 20th century. Frankly, it was the Republicans who nurtured a one-pasrty system while they held power, but the people removed them just in time. May we always be so fortunate. Obama is not the threat, they are.
January 19, 2009 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gregor, thank you so very much. I was almost out of Prick-B-Gon when I ran across its latest droppings.
Don't worry; I'm reloaded now. You can go converse with the others; I'll clean up the primordial sludge. :)
January 19, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
DITTO, GREGOR
January 19, 2009 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign!
January 19, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Too much in all that to wrap my head around, but the Obama administration is expected to be a hard plunge to the left. Go far enough left, and you've got Marxism by whatever name you wish to put on it.
January 19, 2009 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm all in favor of a one-pastry system!
January 19, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's started already, depriving us of all the yummy choices of heart clogging fried dough available at the local Dunkin Donuts in favor of one government mandated pastry. And it'll probably have a chocolate likeness of Obama's face on it too!
January 19, 2009 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nah, quit using 2-4-d about fifteen years ago. Use that stuff long enough and it kills everything out. Guy I went to high school with is looking around for a kidney to keep him alive because of it. Nasty stuff.
January 19, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
spric they're going to put flouride in your water. The upside is it'll save your teeth. The downside is it'll turn you into a Obama voting Stalinist by 2012. Don't think you can avoid it by passing on tap water. It is absorbed through the skin when you shower. If you wish to keep your precious bodily fluids free of communist menace your only recourse is to never bathe. Or brush your teeth. Pass the word.
January 19, 2009 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mark, its in the water. THEY are attempting to steal our precious bodily fluids.
Ever notice how the republicans really eat up Viagra.
Limp dicks--excuse the expression.
January 19, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mark,
Thanks for your concerns for my health. But I don’t get my water from the government, I get it out from under my farm. Don’t have to worry about the gov pulling any sneaky Marxists tricks thataway.
January 19, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good for you spric. From what I figure you'll be Round Up ready just before the herbicides kill you. When you die have 'em bury you in the back forty. It'll save on both fertilizer and weed killer.
January 19, 2009 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Prattle, prattle little spric
Why do you act like such a prick?
So brilliant in your own mind's eye
Yet like a cat turd in a pie -
Prattle, prattle little spric
Why must you be such a dick?
January 19, 2009 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I look forward to the day of your slaughter, to be sure. May it come soon.
January 19, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Grouch,
You know you don't mean that!! Shame on you. BTW, have you heard who wrote the speech we'll be hearing tomorrow?
January 19, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know I do. I'll be sure to "water your flowers" too, you little slimeball.
January 19, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's beyond unfriendly.
January 19, 2009 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, Junior, read this carefully. (I'm going to type slowly so you can sound it out as you go - it might help.)
I am not friendly to you. I am never going to be friendly to you. Never. I wish you pain, misery, and suffering every day of your pathetic life. You are beneath contempt. In fact, I've seen dogshit on sidewalks with more class than you.
Now, remove yourself - ideally from this world, although removing yourself from this forum will suffice short-term. You're stinking up the place.
January 19, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay Grouch,
I read it. Well, got to go back over to the Huffpost and get em riled back up over there. Not good to let em cool off too much, ya know?
January 19, 2009 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
spric...I made roughly this same comment on another thread, but I want to make sure you see it, so am repeating... I cannot say I have read EVERY comment you have ever made, but I read through the majority of blogs and comments, and I can pretty much predict when I see your name that my feathers are going to get ruffled (sorry BWAK) and I have that reaction to very few people here.
The archives don't go back far enough to see when you 1st started posting, but I think it is pretty recent. I'm good at giving people a chance to find their voice and make a place for themselves here at TPM before I start criticizing them, and am very tolerant of almost all points of view, so for me to be reacting to you like this means you've gone over the top more and earlier than most...
This is not an echo chamber. Most voices are appreciated. I'm assuming you want to be taken seriously, so I'm telling you that you are coming across as a vile person. If that is your intent, you are succeeding. Modify your tone, or you won't be taken seriously.
January 19, 2009 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I take that back...you don't post yourself, just rip apart everyone else's work. You are a commenter, and a rude one, at that.
January 19, 2009 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Stilli. One or two crazed hippos are not going to "rain" excrement on my parade.
Your and yours are in paradise and we are in the midst of a glimpse of heaven. Let the others cry in their beer and we shall drink Champagne.
I hope it is beautiful there.
January 19, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I read it.
January 19, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can still recall first hearing that in college. I believe Kennedy was still alive. In a green time of wonder, like this one. Yes, I'm gonna enjoy the two days also - with plenty of Kleenex handy.
January 19, 2009 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
A great time to be alive, dontcha think TheraP.
January 19, 2009 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I sure do! :)
January 19, 2009 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Save some of that Kleenex to wipe the urp off spric's chin. I think he needs his diaper changed as well...
January 19, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Naaaah, just take him out in the backyard and hose him down. Of course, it's only 18 degrees here right now, but you have to take the bad with the good...
January 19, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Netflix: Order "Bound for Glory." Amazing portrayal of Woody Guthrie by David Carradine; great Hal Ashby direction, knockout cinematography by Haskell Wexler. Will keep you in the mood, DD.
January 19, 2009 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks SOS. Bound For Glory is a great flick.
January 19, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
One side of the sign still says nothing. The other side, however, now reads "Private Property paid for by borrowing from future generations of working taxpayers."
50 years ago, Guthrie and Seeger were writing new SINGABLE songs, not endlessly reprising the hits of the Grange, the settlement houses and the IWW from a half century or more earlier.
Enjoy the fest for two days, folkies, and then roll up your sleeves. There is work to be done like America has not seen in most Americans' lifetimes.
January 19, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
There is a lot of work to be done. My hope is that the will and the determination is there among the American People. They shall be ready, willing and able to perform those tasks necessary to keep the American Dream alive.
January 19, 2009 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's been my observation, DD, that Americans usually only perform with our backs to the wall.
Well, we're sure there now. I think we'll do what needs to be done - but only because we are just about out of quick and easy alternatives.
January 19, 2009 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Americans usually only perform with our backs to the wall.
Not really true Boyd. Americans perform well in good times and bad. But our leadership has been seriously off course for the last 30 years experimenting with radical rightwing ideology.
Yeah Clinton tried to stem the tide but overall we've gone down a path that's almost ruined the country. Our backs are indeed against the wall now but in 4 years, 10 years, 20, however long it takes to not just recover but reinvent our nation it will be no time to get fat, happy and satisfied. We can't ever take our eye off the prize and let wingnuts screw up the institutions of government and business with their dumb theories.
January 19, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
You said it Mark. Vigilance.
January 19, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uhh, I believe you meant 'Vengance'. Just don't want you to be misunderstood,
January 19, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spric, I believe you change the words people say just to vitalize your horrid little fantasy world. You need a hug, a warm cup of milk, some cookies, and a nap.
January 19, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Might I suggest a good beating?
January 19, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Grouch you got me laughing this PM
January 19, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Grouch
How, in heaven’s name, can you accuse someone of ‘spewing hate’ and say things like that to your fellow man? I think any reasonable person would see that as the nth degree of hypocrisy.
I’m sorry you feel the safe little public place where you protect your fragile fantasy idealism bubbles from being busted is being compromised. Don’t blame me. Because the only place socialism works is in the environment of a make-believe blog. Truth is, socialism is a well proven real life failure with no exceptions.
January 19, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are not my fellow man. You are at best a lower life form.
And your somewhat odd introduction of "socialism" into my slagging you makes as much sense as offering a chocolate malted to a lawnmower.
While I am not a Socialist, I prefer their company to the annoyance of a malodorous fungus such as you.
January 19, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn, that's what I was going to say!
January 19, 2009 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I contend that it is true - in part because we usually do get fat, happy and satisfied when things are going well.
Note that I did NOT say it was GOOD to only perform well when things are bad. It's just historically been what we've done.
If we want to stay out of the straits we're in now, it's probably a very good idea to revisit the very complacency you mention, so that we may see its historical consequences.
To be sure, it's a bit of an unrealistic goal, as basic human nature is to rest on one's laurels after attaining high achievement. But the ideal itself is worth the constant pursuit.
January 19, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, on a day to reflect about the real country we live in alongside its ideals. But WWII was a magic time. '38 the prez says, no war. As soon as he was reelected, FDR started to rev up the war machine and by '40 we were sending arms and tanks and ships to what was left of the British Empire.
By '42 we were sending troops 'over there' once again. It was an amazing transformation. And the GI bill was born in the aftermath.
Real transformation. We need that now.
January 19, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Roosevelt lying us into that war after he promised not to before the election. Skillful lying it was.
But realistically, a war was the only option left in resurrecting the economy after the abject failure of years of Roosevelt's Marxist economic policy. Lots of deaths resulted from that little Marxist experiment too.
January 19, 2009 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Roosevelt lied us into WW2? Right. Must've been friendly fire that hit Pearl Harbor.
Are you really this much of a lying turdburglar, or do you just play Sean Hannity's long-lost brother on TV? It must take decades of practice and self-denial to be this delusional.
January 19, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boyd,
You're right, I should have qualified that. Roosevelt lied us into the European war. Gobs of documentation on that fact.
Gregor,
There wasn't a template at the beginning of the war which decided the outcome. Ongoing political maneuvering had as much effect on events as the outcome of battles. Alliances were made, weakened, broken. I can't envision alternate outcomes any better than anyone else.
But I know Hitler planned on us staying out of the thing. Roosevelt just kept shipping munitions to the people who attacked him until he felt he had to sink a ship flying our flag. But I feel he is maligned in some ways historically.
January 19, 2009 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why did Hitler declare war on the United States after Pearl Harbor then?
January 19, 2009 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me that Roosevelt did what he could to keep us out of the war, however, Poland failed to stop Hitler, as did Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, not to mention pretty much all of Northern Africa. Russia was losing and Great Britain was getting bombed into rubble when we joined. I think keeping us out of WWII was a promise he could not keep and that I am glad he broke.
Spric, your comments are beyond belief. I am trying to understand your remark. Would you have preferred that Hitler continued his success? What are you suggesting with this disagreement that we participated in WWII?
January 19, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spric is just slamming FDR because he's one of those people who's sure that anything and everything Roosevelt did had to be bad, even if it was successful. Anyway, Hitler declared war on the U.S. first, on Dec. 11. This was against the advice of just about everybody else in the German government; Hitler did it because he felt like it.
By the way, Spric, I don't understand your reference to Roosevelt having an American-flagged vessel sunk. If you're implying a "Remember the Maine" kind of thing, I don't understand what you are referring to. By Dec. 6, 1941, the U.S. Navy and the German U-boats had been trading shots for months, and the U.S. was no nearer entering the war than it was at the beginning of 1941.
January 19, 2009 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spric is just slamming FDR because he's one of those people who's sure that anything and everything Roosevelt did had to be bad, even if it was successful. Anyway, Hitler declared war on the U.S. first, on Dec. 11. This was against the advice of just about everybody else in the German government; Hitler did it because he felt like it.
By the way, Spric, I don't understand your reference to Roosevelt having an American-flagged vessel sunk. If you're implying a "Remember the Maine" kind of thing, I don't understand what you are referring to. By Dec. 6, 1941, the U.S. Navy and the German U-boats had been trading shots for months, and the U.S. was no nearer entering the war than it was at the beginning of 1941.
January 19, 2009 7:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I stand corrected big time, I was talking about the wrong war and it wasn't even a US flagged vessel at that.
January 19, 2009 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um yeah spric the Lusitania wasn't even an American ship though many US citizens died when a U boat sank it. At the time Hitler was a corporal in the Kaiser's army.
Try to stick to a subject you know something about, like poisoning yourself with herbicides.
January 19, 2009 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Out in the country, far from a highway
There is this land here, and it is my way
Don't ever come here, or you'll be sorry
This land was made just for me
This land is my land, it isn't your land
I got a shotgun, and you don't got none
If you don't get off, I'll blow your head off
This land was made just for me
So keep away now, Don't ruin my day now
My property's private, you cannot buy it
Go find your own land, Just be a lone man
This land was made just for me
This land is my land, it isn't your land
I got a shotgun, and you don't got none
If you don't get off, I'll blow your head off
This land was made just for me
http://www.amiright.com/parody/60s/woodyguthrie0.shtml
January 19, 2009 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Donal. There are people and always will be people in higher places and lower places who have a vision of this country that is anathema to everything I hold dear.
And then there are the angels.
I prefer to sing the songs of angels.
January 19, 2009 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Me too! :-)
January 19, 2009 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
There is a great Spanish version performed by Sones de Mexico, "Esta Tierra Es Tuya." You can hear a sample HERE (see track 3).
January 19, 2009 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the link Kafka. A global spirit.
January 19, 2009 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, but there is no mention in Woody's song about stealing this land, poisoning this land,
or the ultimate betrayal of his legacy by Dylan when he abandoned acoustics. Not good enough.
So moderate even HBO showed Seeger singing it.
January 19, 2009 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ricky, Ricky, are you really pissed at Dylan for going electric OVER 4 DECADES AGO? Get a life, please. And BTW, Woody would have been proud of Dylan for using the tools of his generation to become a troubador in tune with his times.
Looking at your profile, I see that you are a brand new user. From your tone and style, I deduce that RICKY and SPRIC are one and the same.
January 19, 2009 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know (s)pric's drained the batteries in our Snark-O-Meters. But I think ricky was being humorous. :-)
January 19, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, Pricky has me all wound up. Sorry, Ricky, if I unfairly defamed you!
January 19, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some of my oldest and fondest memories involve singing This Land is Your Land. . .Some things stick and never cease resonating.
January 19, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right on, Tom Joad!
I made the comment below over on MrSmith1's post, but I am repeating it here to share with this bunch.
I went to some big outdoor festival, somewhere out in the sticks in Pennsylvania, on the Fourth of July back in the early 80s. Pete Seeger was one of the performers. I will never forget sitting in the grass in the late evening listening to Pete sing "This Land is Your Land". It was a deeply primal-feeling American experience, in the best possible sense. And followed by fireworks!
When my son was a little boy, we oftened listened to cassettes of Pete's songs. I have many, many happy memories of listening and singing along to "Abiyoyo", "Sam the Whaler", "Mary Had a Baby" and so many more with my son and my wife. Those songs did so much to enrich and gladden our lives! I love that man.
January 19, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pete was the best. I was elated to see him with a guitar, singing at 90.
Sometimes you cannot put a good man down.
Good comments ttc
January 19, 2009 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Off-topic, but I got to watch Les Paul play in NYC two years ago. Just another good man that Father Time can't seem to keep down.
January 19, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Want to do yourself a musical favor? Go find "Chester and Lester" - Chet Atkins and Les Paul ripping it up and having a great old time with some other studio players. Beyond amazing...
If you already have it, then we'll just consider this a tip to the rest of the readership.
January 19, 2009 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tip accepted. Between Amazon and iTunes, I figure I should be able to find it. :)
January 19, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Bruce. Good to see you around today.
As part of this national day of service, you're required to write at least one of your usual excellent blogs. :-)
January 19, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a special day.
Two blogs, Bruce. ;-)
January 19, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gentlemen:
Flattery will get you everywhere, but I did think that today was a national "holiday", as in relax, chill, reflect, etc. :)
January 19, 2009 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Woodie Guthrie is a great American hero. He stood up for all Americans during a time it wasn't popular. He made a song about an African American soldier who returned from the war and was beaten nearly to death during his bus trip home. Then there is the time he played for troops in the Navy and they tried to not allow African Americans to attend/listen. Then there was he fight for the American worker.
Woodie is a hero and "This land" is a great song.
January 19, 2009 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes TM and he kept fact of that dead American soldier in the public minds and HST was so upset about this murder, he issued one of the most important Executive Orders in history, he desegregated the military.
Woody and Pete are two of my favorite heroes.
January 19, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Woody and Cisco Houston desegregated American music, putting together a great American band with Ledbelly and Sonny Terry.
January 19, 2009 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Erratum: Make that Leadbelly. Shame on me....
January 19, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
No shame at all Kafka. Good point.
January 19, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, but it's just as easy to get the details right.
Have a fantastic Inauguration Day, dickday!
January 20, 2009 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
With Pete on the planet all is well. Hey, so much for the HUAC's blacklist. The circle of hate and fear has turned into the deep cold dark night it so richly deserves. Go Pete !
January 19, 2009 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe it was the challenge, all these hard years, that kept Pete goin
January 19, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pete is my main man. Imperishable - the Jack LaLanne of a great American song tradition with a torch passed down through Mr. Zimmerman to Mr. Springsteen. How many verses? Pete will drop and give you 20!
January 19, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why am I always late to the party when spric is posting. Damn!!! Missed the fun again!
January 19, 2009 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, all these comments and not one mention of Arlo? A few of Arlo's tunes were in his old man's league. Listen to "City of New Oreleans." It ain't just an ole train song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5EDJBhER0M
January 19, 2009 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
With Arlo, YOU CAN GET ANYTHING YOU WANT
Faroff, you are not that faroff
January 19, 2009 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
While Arlo performed it's signature version, "City of New Orleans" was written by the incomparable Chicago folkie Steve Goodman ("Go Cubs Go!").
January 20, 2009 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
And, if you want to hear Arlo sing his Old Man's hit, complete with the crowd joining in and joining him on the stage and with the little ones bouncing on their parents knees, hit this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_HGDCj8hP0&feature=related
January 19, 2009 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for that Faroff. Thank you very much!
January 19, 2009 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here is Woody himself singing "This Land is Your Land". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaI5IRuS2aE
January 19, 2009 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is good stuff. Thank you, thank you, thank you
January 19, 2009 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just to give credit where due, the tune Woody Guthrie borrowed for "This Land is Your Land" was by Maybelle Carter of the Carter family.
Not to take anything away from Woody's words, it's still a great song, no matter where the melody originated.
January 19, 2009 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
As Johnny Carson used to say: "I did not know that."
Mr. Smith, that adds a little history to all this.
The Song itself comes from the soul of America.
January 19, 2009 10:03 PM | Reply | Permalink