The Remarkable Influence of One Man
I'll be a man. As best and worst and quick as I can. A man as hot as I can. And one day, you might even call me your word singer.
Woody Guthrie
As the Commonweal approaches the mid point of Season 27, the words influence and "staying-power" come quickly to mind. In setting out to fulfill a mission statement, a record of influence followed close behind.
Woody Guthrie did not set out to become an American icon or a highly influential person. Those resulted in his simple desire and need to come up with some way of saying what he was thinking.
In both cases, the legacy is at the center. In both cases, there is a hope that the world will be a better place because of our having had a presence in it.
The Influence of Woody Guthrie...more than 100 years later.
"Woody Guthrie wrote songs about an America with a stunning landscape, of majestic forests, rolling rivers, and deep valleys, hugged by two oceans, where inequality and social injustice sowed roots. He wrote folk songs for the everyman, songs of tragedy and of triumph, ballads of spiritual death and rebirth.
As Guthrie stated, "A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it, or it could be who's hungry and where their mouth is, or who's out of work and where the job is, or who's broke and where the money is, or who's carrying a gun and where the peace is." In short, Guthrie and his fellow folksinging friends - including Leadbelly, Sonny Terry, and Cisco Houston - sang and wrote songs about struggle and redemption -- a message that has been carried on long after Guthrie's death by artists like Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Billy Bragg, Joan Baez, Tom Morello, and countless others." Click here to read this compete article.
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