“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling. I am out to fight those 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 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 in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you. I could hire out to the other side, the big money side, and get several dollars every week just to quit singing my own kind of songs and to sing the kind that knock you down still farther and the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you think you’ve not any sense at all. But I decided a long time ago that I’d starve to death before I’d sing any such songs as that. The radio waves and your movies and your jukeboxes and your songbooks are already loaded down and running over with such no good songs as that anyhow.”
— Woody Guthrie
this is a wonderful quote here, it shows a level of engagement that is a gold standard for artists-
my first exposure to woody guthrie came at the the end of “Capitalism: A Love Story” when MM used Woody’s song “Jesus Christ” for the ending credits….the song gave me shivers! thanks again PW for all the great stuff you put out here in the virtual collective unconscious!
Makes me want to play my guitar 😉
Vesta-Pluto trine Venus + Asbolus opposed Venus…Yep, this podcast really touched my heart. Music can tell a truth that hurts but comes along with healing. I picked up musical instruments like most boys pick up sports, but sports didn’t stick until I got martial arts, hiking and biking- non competitive. Asbolus- carbon dust- survivors: I’ve kept some connection to music alive when my left over reactions to teenage abuses almost killed my creative powers by constant dissing. During the last few years one of my local jazz friends has been like a dad to me, filling in some missing pieces I couldn’t hear through the screaming speakers drowning out the stepdad’s media- resistance to being crystalized as a Republican I suppose. I never liked Rush Limbaugh’s tone.
Now that I’m cooling off music transforms from a means of self defense to the carrying of a sacred tradition with deep roots. Jazz and blues was one context where black and white found some common ground. Jazz turned the world on to America’s sparkle. Music is medicine for troubled souls and celebration for happy ones. Sound systems on bikes have been a means of cultivating peace between the cops and cyclists in Portland. Music is more than a commodity; it’s part of the commons of humanity.
This podcast is awesome in the way it weaves together so many threads of American history in the story of Woody Guthrie. The quotes you chose were like music to my ears, medicine for my heart. Thanks for putting it together.
Thank you for posting this, Eric. It shows that Woody Guthrie was not careless. He was very awake and aware of where he was and what he was doing. He knew very well what he was about. If anybody wants to know what speaking truth sounds like, what standing in truth looks like, we have these words. We have these words here today thanks to you, Eric.
“This machine kills fascists”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woody_Guthrie_2.jpg