Woody Guthrie

[Big Tabs]

Well worth a viewing, whether you care for his music or not.

recent BBC programme - Woody Guthrie: Three Chords And The Truth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00048qp/woody-guthrie-three-chords-and-the-truth

Warning: 'May contain Billy Bragg.'

 

[Tony L]

It was very interesting IMO. I had no idea about the ‘reformed racist’ angle at all. Well worth watching IMO.

 

[Big Tabs]

It was very interesting IMO. I had no idea about the ‘reformed racist’ angle at all. Well worth watching IMO.

Same here, was a surprise. Almost makes me rub my chin. I suppose one can change a viewpoint that looks like it was instilled from birth. It is easy to be a bit cynical from a historical viewpoint I guess.

I am no big fan of him, but I recognise his legacy.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

Same here, was a surprise. Almost makes me rub my chin. I suppose one can change a viewpoint that looks like it was instilled from birth. It is easy to be a bit cynical from a historical viewpoint I guess.

I am no big fan of him, but I recognise his legacy.

About the same here. Crap singer, crap guitarist but he wrote some important songs that gave foundations to later protest singers

I read "Bound for Glory" (autobiography) when I was about 16 but only now realise how much of it was exaggerated or purely fictional!

Oh and you can't have too much Billy Bragg!

 

[Woodface]

Has this been on before? Pretty sure I have seen something very similar. I believe Guthrie was a bit of an arse.

 

[Big Tabs]

Has this been on before? Pretty sure I have seen something very similar. I believe Guthrie was a bit of an arse.

I was wary of that, but I think it was first broadcast on Friday just gone

 

[Woodface]

I was wary of that, but I think it was first broadcast on Friday just gone

The one I saw was ages ago, it also had Billy Bragg in it but they seem to come as a package

 

[jimpey]

I saw a trailer which seemed to suggest it was first of a series - John Lee Hooker next Friday.

Jim

 

[Big Tabs]

Bump


cos it is worth it.

 

[Martyn Miles]

I really like Arlo Guthrie’s song Alice’s Restaurant.

‘You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant.’

 

[neildalton]

I thought this was a terrific overview of one of the most interesting lives in 20c American folk.

It barely needs stating that Guthrie’s journey was full of road bumps. Bad choices made; daftness, bigotry, self-mythologising; straw man songwriting. Not least, he could have treated his wife better.

Beside those elements though, and winning by a nose, was the angel side of his story. The guy’s appetite for life, his preparedness to confront dark corners - his own and others. His DIY aesthetic, which has inspired and found its echo in so much music since; and finally the dozen or so truly great songs which have now become part of how America sees itself.

In short, taken in the round, I left this documentary as I left my reading of Joe Klein’s biography a couple of decades earlier. Thinking, it’s hard to like Woody, yet fully as hard not to love him. Ain’t life complicated.