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 | Woody GuthrieThis Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 11997 Smithsonian Folkways 
  Review by: SumWon See others by this writer Only registered users can post comments 
 Published on August 7th 2007
Okay, so Woody Guthrie *might* not be a punk, and you can’t get much more mainstream than writing a song that becomes an alternate national anthem, but gosh darnit I’m going to review this album anyways (also, Joe Strummer used to go by Woody in tribute, which should in itself extinguish all questions).
I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps / To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts / All around me her voice was sounding / This land was made for you and me / There was a big high wall there / That tried to stop me / The sign was painted / It said ‘private property’ / But on the backside / It didn’t say nothing / This land was made for you and meMoving on a few tracks we have a cover of a Goebel Reeves song called "Hobo’s Lullaby." Here, the singer empathizes with a hobo who is fortunate enough to have a boxcar to sleep in on a given night. This is something Woody undoubtedly had experience with himself, and listening to him sing this makes me feel like I am right beside him on a boxcar in the mid-`40s, hitchin’ aimlessly through the country. This is a great song, and it is rumored that it was Woody’s favorite song ever. The singer calls to the hobo: Go to sleep you weary hobo / Let the towns drift slowly by / Can't you hear the steel rail humming / That's a hobo's lullaby / Do not think about tomorrow / Let tomorrow come and go / Tonight you're in a nice warm boxcar / Safe from all the wind and snowFollowing "Hobo’s Lullaby" is "Pastures of Plenty," another fantastic cut. The song, originally appearing on his classic Ballads from the Dust Bowl, is an angry yet hopeful assertion of how the migrant workers of the 1940s will rise up and return the land to the masses rather than continue to slave for the few. Woody proclaims: Every state in the Union us migrants have been / We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win / It's always we rambled, that river and I / All along your green valley, I will work till I die / My land I'll defend with my life if need be / Cause my pastures of plenty must always be freeThe last song I’ll mention is "Do Re Mi." Another song about the struggles associated with the Dust Bowl, this number attacks the American value system of money over human life. People in the thick of the Dust Bowl would leave for California where a better life could be obtained, only to be turned away or neglected their humanity for not having enough money. If you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi / You better get back to beautiful Texas, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee / California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see / But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot / If you ain't got the do re miI have at this point covered my personal favorites from the first half of the album, and there are many more great songs ahead that would simply be excessive to explore. Woody Guthrie is certainly an acquired taste, especially for the 30-and-under crowd, many of whom likely think of him as ancient. The messages underlying the circumstances of his songs are timeless, however, and they will grow on you if you give them the opportunity. I highly recommend this for those who dont mind warming up to an album and for those who like to take a break from the distortion pedal every once in awhile. People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
yea it is PUNKnews. it isnt punkreviews though. i thought this was PUNKnews, not boringrepetitiveacousticnews Wait so this album gets the same star rating as some dumbass pop punk records? Stupid. woody looks like a young sean penn in that picture. Quadruple LOLs at that last comment. People are stupid. why the fuck is this garbage being reviewed? let this corpse rot. amazing songwriter wow three reviews in a row. this somewon must give amazing head. Great review of a great collection for a great songwriter. As an elementary music teacher, I try to do Guthrie songs with my classes as much as possible because as far as his kid's songs go, they are cooler than most kids songs. I've done This Land is Your Land with my kids at a veteran's day program, and while most people in the crowd wouldn't know, I do explain some of it's background to the kids when we learn it. Car Song is a great little kids song too. Also, read Bound for Glory... it's pretty awesome. Absolutely essential. And definitely review Ziggy. I just finished readying a biography on Woody, good stuff. Thanks for reviewing this and possibly getting more people interested in him. I tried to get a few of my friends to listen to him, but they wrote him off as only writing children's songs because "isn't 'This Land is Your Land' for kids?" I think it means that Woody wins, though, when kids learn that song before they learn that bullshit "God Bless the USA" song everyone sings in the 7th inning at baseball games now. Favorite song: So Long, It's Been Good To Know Ya This is awesome. I'm reviewing Phil Ochs this week or the next. Count on it. A guy with just a guitar bluntly singing political anthems when no one else will speak up is about as punk as it gets, really. Not to mention that Guthrie is one of the best American songwriters of all time. Woody is badass. Rejoice. This also has "Lindbergh" in which he calls out Charles Lindbergh and America First for being fascist sympathisers. That was well known, of course, but (for the time) it was pretty blunt. It seems like a lot of the labor & lefty songs used stories or legends as metaphors instead of talking about exactly who they meant. woody is hard to listen to, even if he did pretty much start DIY. i had a shortlived woody guthrie phase in high school. dude was quite a punx for his day. Wait...we can review things that have only a spiritual relation to punk, rather than musical? Oh, shit, I hafta review me some Ziggy Stardust now. |
