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| Subject: The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done | |
Author: andy (a tribute blog) | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 16:37:07 11/26/07 Mon I was reading a part of Woody Guthrie's "Bound for Glory" for about the tenth time last week. I was feeling all the same things I first felt when I read the book twenty five or so years ago. There was so much to the man that so many people aren't aware of. In my eyes that's a damn shame but, if you were to ask Dylan or Springsteen or Mellencamp or countless others who was at the top of their list of people that inspired them you'd get Woody's name on the short list every time. Most people know him as the man who wrote "This land is your land" and that's a good thing because it's one hell of a song even today. The sad part about knowing the song for most is that they never really heard the whole damn song to begin with. The radio stations had it shortened so they are the only verses most people ever heard. I'm going to change that a wee little bit right here and now before I go any further. These are the complete lyrics to one of the greatest songs ever written. ..And I don't care if you are American or not. The song is more about freedom and liberty and justice than it is about a government or a particular place. Anyway, here's to you Woody, and here's to a song I never leave a verse out of because I could never figure out which one to chop. This Land is Your Land 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, 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'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 The sun came shining As I was strolling The wheat fields waving And the dust clouds rolling The fog was lifting as a voice come chanting This land was made for you and me As I was walkin' I saw a sign there And that sign said no trespassin' But on the other side It didn't say nothin! Now that side was made for you and me! In the squares of the city In the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office I see my people And some are starvin' And some are wonderin' If this land's still made for you and me. I followed your low hills And I followed your cliff rims, Your marble canyons And sunny bright waters. As the fog was lifting, A voice was saying This land was made for you and me. But Nobody living can ever stop me As I go walking Down That freedom highway Nobody living can ever make me turn back Cause'This land was made for you and me So, there you have it, the whole song except for the forty eight other verses he made up and sang along the way. You see out of all the people that have ever influenced me in life nobody ever really touched my heart and soul the way that Woody Guthrie has except for my Mother. Woody never stood a chance there cause he had nothing to do with me being born. For those of you that don't know much about the man I figured I would fill you in a bit here tonight since he has been such a big part of my muse and why I write the type of songs and poetry I write. I thought it appropriate to share with the friends that don't know this side of me much something that runs deep as any river in my life ever has. In my poem "LIfe in a Moments Time" I end it by stating there is a story about Woody Guthrie and the Rainbow Room that makes for good reading. Well, here's that story about as fast and best as I can tell it. That doesn't mean it's going be over in a minute because that wouldn't do it justice. Woody was a guy that never cared about money or prestige. All he really ever cared about was people and knowing them and spending time with them along the way. He never was much at any other job besides writing and playing songs for tips in a hat. He spent many years riding frieght trains around from state to state looking for part time work as a migrant farmer so to speak. He's stay at people's houses he just met and leave poems taped to their ice boxes and be gone with the rising sun. Anyway, somewhere along the line after writing about three thousand songs (and I don't think I am too far off there in that number) he started to garner some attention. The United Satetes Government was undertaking a large project at the time building the largest damn ever built anywhere in the world. It was out West on the Columbia river and today its called the Hoover Damn. Well there was a bunch of protest going on to try and stop the building of the damn at the time so the government decided to hire Woody to write some songs and go out there and sing them to the people. You see if Woody had anything he had the ability to bring the everyday down the road type of folk together since that's all he ever was and all her ever wrote about. He believed in the damn because he knew it would provide work in a depression. He also knew about all the power it would generate that was soon to be needed out in the growing State of California. So Woody wrote about thirty songs in thirty days, some of them I have sung five hundred times and know by heart. Here's the lyrics to one entitled: "The Biggest Thing That Man has Ever Done" Oh I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum Highly educated, from history I have come I built the Rock of Ages, it was in the year of One And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done I worked in the Garden of Eden, it was in the year of Two Joined the Apple Pickers Union, I always paid my dues I'm the man that got the contract to raise the Rising Sun And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done I was straw boss on the pyramids, and the Tower of Babel too I opened up the ocean, let the migrant children through I fought a million battles and never lost a one And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done I fought the ragin Roman, I fought the ragin Turk Defeated Nero's army with thirty minutes work I stopped the mighty Kaizer, I stopped the mighty Hun And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done I fought the Revolution when we set the country free It was me and a couple of Indians that dumped the Boston tea I fought the battle of Valley Forge and the battle of Bully Run And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done Next we fought the slavery war, a bunch of folks and me We beat the chains from off their legs and set my people free The slavery men, they lost the war, freedom's men had won And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done There was a man across the ocean, and I guess you knew him well His name was Adolph Hitler, and damn his soul to hell We kicked him in the panzers and got him on the run And that was about the biggest thing Man has ever done We sent a big old rocketship into space one time Ten thousand miles an hour and turned it on a dime We'll Hit golfballs on the moon, then come back where we begun And that will be the biggest thing Man has ever done I climbed the rocky canyons where the Columbia River rolls Seen the salmon leapin the rapids and the falls Twas there I'll build the Greatest Dam in the state of Washington And that will be the biggest thing man has ever done Well I'm gonna quit my talking, 'cause I told you all I know But just remember, partner, wherever you may go People are building a peaceful world, and when their job is done That'll be the biggest thing Man has ever done Yes, That'll be the biggest thing Man has ever done WG Well after his stint with the government Woody was getting some air time on the radio so they invited him to New York City to be interviewed on the biggest damn radio station in the world "WABC". That day the station was broadcasting from the Rainbow Room at the top of Rockefeller Center. Well Woody took a bus into the city and walked with his guitar on his back to the big room in the sky. Finally it was his turn to go on so he took his seat and took his guitar off his back and the man with the mic started to ask him some silly questions about his songs. Well, he might have answered one or two of them and then finally just stood up and said you know this whole radio deal with your suits and ties and your big city ways just isn't my thing so I'll be going now. He realized in a moment that the path to success for him never was about being famous or the money. Woody Guthrie didn't live a long life, he faced lots of hardships along the way but, Woody never veared from who he was and who he was meant to be. He walked out of the that building out on to the street all the way to the George Washington Bridge and then over the Hudson River and into New Jesey playing and singing his songs. He was free again. Free from the confines of a city where he felt trapped. Free from some phony interviewer trying to get him to answer stupid questions about things they would never understand anyway. Free from the traps of being famous and most of all free from having someone else try to twist his words and songs into something he never intended them to be. Not long after that Woody lay dying in a hospital in New Jersey and a young man who would later be known as Bob Dylan took that same walk and then went to see his hero and tell him what he tought about him before he died. He got that chance and Dylan himself has said it was something he Just had to do. ... so if you ever read "Life in a Moment's Time" again at least you'll know what I was getting at and what I'm still getting at here today. Woody Guthrie is still my hero and I still pick up his auto biography "Bound for Glory" and feel like I am walking down the road right beside him. I still play his songs and feel him singing right along with me. So this blog is for Woody and for the people out there who have enough guts to be who they should be and not who someone else tells them they need to be in order to measure up to some screwed up measure of success. I don't know much but, I do know some things about life that don't take much figuring out and I learned a lot of them from reading and listening and playing the songs of Woody Guthrie. I learned that right or wrong so long as I am true to myself then I can always look straight in the mirror and say "Good Morning Andy It's Nice to See You Today" .............and that should be enough for any man especially a man like me! ajs [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
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Author: Sasha [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 19:40:52 11/26/07 Mon . ~ WOW!!!! Ya know something, Andz? I remember a time when, if I saw a post this long I'd have run a mile..lol...but truth be known, once I started reading it I couldn't stop till it was finished :) I also remember 2 of my brothers teaching themselves how to play the guitar, and I remember hearing about Woody Guthrie, through them. One of my brothers had "Bound for Glory", too, and I remember hearing the music of both Woody, and Arlo Guthrie in our house...so this blog smiles my heart as it brings back some cool memories... This is such a wonderfully insightful blog, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about my dear friend Andz, partner in rhyme and crime! and that's always a good thing :) thank you for enriching my day... *warm kiwi hugs* Sash xx  . |
| [> Subject: Re: The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done | |
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Author: andy [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 04:46:38 11/27/07 Tue Sash, Yes, it is long but, there is no way for me to be short when it comes to him. The connection I felt when I first read "Bound for Glory" changed my life forever. Anyway, now you know a little more about that man and that makes me smile for sure. andy |
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Author: AnneMarie [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 17:06:14 11/28/07 Wed Wow is right~Yummy too if I may add! Drenched with knowledge...cheers World of info here, so appreciate you sharing Andy...Amazing. Hugs & Kisses, AnneMarie |
| [> [> Subject: Re: The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done | |
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Author: andy [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:20:14 11/29/07 Thu Thank you Dear! I very much appreciate you taking the time to walk the mile with me. thanks, andy |
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Author: Tammy [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 19:23:48 11/28/07 Wed Truth be known, I don't know much about the man, except for the first little ditty you quoted above, but then you added so much more that it was a gripping and enriching read. You, my dear friend, are a treasure chest of love, insight and knowledge. Always...always leaving me in awe. I come in here and think..what is Andyman going to gift us with next. And boom...I read this. Powerful and beautiful! Love ya, Tammy |
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Author: andy [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:22:15 11/29/07 Thu Tammers, I like that Andyman lingo! You know me and my nicnames (after all you have ten of them in my world). Thank you so much for you time and sweet comments. For anyone who might be interested I recorded and posted a couple of Woody Guthrie songs today. They can be heard in the Melody Mansion room of the motel. Talk soon Tammakins! much love, andy |
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Author: Tammy [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15:01:50 11/29/07 Thu LOL Andyman! I won't list all of those names...omg... You so make my heart smile in the darkest of night. Got to love that about you! Thanks for that big ass smile! Talk soon my dear! Love love love... Tammy |
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