One of the most interesting books I ever read was Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory. I saw the movie, it was okay. Don't watch the movie, read the book, and you'll be seeing the Oklahoma diaspora bthrough his eyes, a historian of the Great Depression as it occurred. His clarity reminded me of Nabokov's "Speak, Memory".
I'm not a particular fan of Guthrie, his nusic is not my music, but I do find him a fascinating character. He freely admits, he was not always a nice guy, not always good, or fair, or honest, his record with women was nothing to be proud of. But he was important as a musical chronicler of an era, a folk artist hobo unionist damn commie rabble-rouser. Why did I read about a guy I was not particularly interested in? It was pretty random really. On a bus, back in 1972, I found a left-behind, well-worn, margin-scribbled copy of Anthony Scaduto's biography of Bob Dylan. He describes how Dylan regularly visited Guthrie, his hero, in a New York hospital in his early days in the city. Someone, I can't remember who, said "Dylan knows more of Woody's songs than Woody does". Anyway, Guthrie told Dylan to stop writing songs about lonesome hobos riding the rails, which wasn't from his experience, and to write about his own world. And so, we got "Blowing in the Wind", and a whole new american folk/protest/youth/poetry genre. In Reykjavik Airport, some years later, I found 'Bound for Glory', and read it, mostly in a tent, on a glacier, in Greenland. Where I found a little red stone... Which I still have.
I've read Bound For Glory and seen the movie too. I love a folk-singing, commie, union organizer, having spent my working life organizing and standing up for the less advantaged. I spent a few years in the late60's-early 70's strumming a guitar and wailing Woody's songs in a high-pitched voice. Later I discovered that Woody was as much of a jerk as some of the guys I'd known but I figure one has to take the bad along with the good.
One of the most interesting books I ever read was Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory.
ReplyDeleteI saw the movie, it was okay. Don't watch the movie, read the book, and you'll be seeing the Oklahoma diaspora bthrough his eyes, a historian of the Great Depression as it occurred.
His clarity reminded me of Nabokov's "Speak, Memory".
I'm not a particular fan of Guthrie, his nusic is not my music, but I do find him a fascinating character. He freely admits, he was not always a nice guy, not always good, or fair, or honest, his record with women was nothing to be proud of. But he was important as a musical chronicler of an era, a folk artist hobo unionist damn commie rabble-rouser.
Why did I read about a guy I was not particularly interested in? It was pretty random really. On a bus, back in 1972, I found a left-behind, well-worn, margin-scribbled copy of Anthony Scaduto's biography of Bob Dylan.
He describes how Dylan regularly visited Guthrie, his hero, in a New York hospital in his early days in the city.
Someone, I can't remember who, said "Dylan knows more of Woody's songs than Woody does". Anyway, Guthrie told Dylan to stop writing songs about lonesome hobos riding the rails, which wasn't from his experience, and to write about his own world.
And so, we got "Blowing in the Wind", and a whole new american folk/protest/youth/poetry genre.
In Reykjavik Airport, some years later, I found 'Bound for Glory', and read it, mostly in a tent, on a glacier, in Greenland. Where I found a little red stone... Which I still have.
I've read Bound For Glory and seen the movie too. I love a folk-singing, commie, union organizer, having spent my working life organizing and standing up for the less advantaged. I spent a few years in the late60's-early 70's strumming a guitar and wailing Woody's songs in a high-pitched voice. Later I discovered that Woody was as much of a jerk as some of the guys I'd known but I figure one has to take the bad along with the good.
ReplyDeleteI'll venture a bad boy has generally seen more, done more, and knows more about people and life.
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