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5.0 out of 5 stars
This Land IS Your Land- Woody Told Me So, July 5, 2009
Most of the points made in this space in an April 1, 2006 review of Woody Guthrie's CD "This Land Is Your Land", reposted directly below, and his place in the folk pantheon, his work and his influence are germane to this extremely informative, well-produced almost three hour film documentary of the life and times of the legendary folk troubadour, "Woody Guthrie And His Guitar: This Machine Kills Fascists". I will make additional points at the end:
"*A Populist Folk Singer For The Ages- The Dust Bowl Refugee- Woody Guthrie
CD REVIEW
This Land Is Your Land -Woody Guthrie, Smithsonian Folkways, Washington, D.C., 1997
Although this space is mainly dedicated to reviewing political books and commenting on past and current political issues literary output is hardly the only form of political creation. Occasionally in the history of the American and international left musicians, artists and playwrights have given voice or provided visual reminders to the face of political struggle. With that thought in mind, every once in a while I will use this space to review those kinds of political expression.
This review is being used to describe several of Woody Guthrie's recordings. Although I have listened to most of his songs and recordings these represent those songs that best represent his life's work.
My musical tastes were formed, as were many of those of the generation of 1968, by Rock & Roll music exemplified by The Rolling Stones and Beatles and by the blues revival, both Delta and Chicago style. However, those forms as much as they gave pleasure were only marginally political at best. In short, these were entertainers performing material that spoke to us. In the most general sense that is all one should expect of a performer. Thus, for the most part that music need not be reviewed here. Those who thought that a new musical sensibility laid the foundations for a cultural or political revolution have long ago been proven wrong.
That said, in the early 1960's there nevertheless was another form of musical sensibility that was directly tied to radical political expression- the folk revival. This entailed a search for roots and relevancy in musical expression. While not all forms of folk music lent themselves to radical politics it is hard to see the 1960's cultural rebellion without giving a nod to such figures as Dave Van Ronk, the early Bob Dylan, Utah Phillips, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others. Whatever entertainment value these performers provided they also spoke to and prodded our political development. They did have a message and an agenda and we responded as such. That these musicians' respective agendas proved inadequate and/or short-lived does not negate their affect on the times.
As I have noted in my review of Dave Van Ronk's work when I first heard folk music in my youth I felt unsure about whether I liked it or not. As least against my strong feelings about The Rolling Stones and my favorite blues artist such as Howlin' Wolf and Elmore James. Then on some late night radio folk show here in Boston I heard Dave Van Ronk singing "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" and that was it. From that time to the present folk music has been a staple of my musical tastes. From there I expanded my play list of folk artists with a political message.
Although I had probably heard Woody's "This Land is Your Land" at some earlier point I actually learned about his music second hand from early Bob Dylan covers of his work. While his influence has had its ebbs and flows since that time each succeeding generation of folk singers still seems to be drawn to his simple, honest tunes about the outlaws, outcasts and the forgotten people that made this country, for good or evil, what it is today. Since Woody did not have a particularly good voice nor was he an exceptional guitar player the message delivered by his songs is his real legacy.
Woody's relationship with the American Communist Party while no secret is not widely known. Even Bob Dylan, a worshipper of Woody's in his youth, was not aware of it or at least that is his claim. What is interesting is that the subjects of his songs fairly closely reflect the party line as it changed to reflect the winds blowing from Moscow. Woody's best work is reflected in the Popular Front-style lyrics of, for example, " This Land is Your Land" when the party developed its class-collaborationist policy with the Rooseveltian Democratic Party and accordingly all liberals were good fellows and true. The Hitler-Stalin Pact was obviously not good news for his lyrical style. Still, listen to his recordings and learn about hard times and struggle."
This film documentary, narrated by Billy Bragg, is a welcome addition to the Woody Guthrie archival materials both for the nice array of photographs and film clips of various aspects of Woody's life from an early age in those hills of Oklahoma through the 1930's, on to his period of fame and then to his decline due to his physical disabilities (due to degenerative Huntington's disease). Moreover, it is enhanced by the commentaries of Woody's co-worker, the venerable folk singer/historian Pete Seeger, Woody's daughter, Nora, who seems to have made a conscious and well-thought out effort to preserve his work for future generations, and by his son Arlo, a well-known folk musician in his own right. I would just add that if you only have time for one piece of Woody Guthrie biographical work then this is the one to get- it will stand as the video monument to his life and work. Kudos.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A collection of fascinating interviews drive this important documentary, July 5, 2009
This is a highly informative, enjoyable documentary life of Woody Guthrie. It is filled with a host of interviews with people who either knew Guthrie (including his sister and some of his children) or have been students of his life. There are a lot of great photos, footage shot in locales key to Woody's story, and what little footage there is of Woody performing. But despite all this, the documentary, despite the richness of the source material and collaborators, lacks a lot in the production department. It is filled with odd with odd decisions, such as having a large percentage of the narration by Billy Bragg take place onscreen. Indeed, the decision to use Billy Bragg is odd. I love Billy Bragg, own many of his albums, and have seen him twice live, and I understand the role that Bragg has played in promoting his music, but I just can't believe that Bragg, with his heavy English accent, was the best choice to narrate this quintessential American story. Aesthetically, the documentary feels like something made for a local PBS station.
Nonetheless, the film is a treasure trove of interviews about Woody. I'd read earlier Joe Klein's biography of Guthrie (back when I thought the now right-wing Democrat Klein -- seriously, why does the man still even call himself a Democrat? -- was a leftist) and even Woody's own somewhat fictional account of his own life BOUND FOR GLORY. So even while this is not a lovely film, it is just an essential resource. The great interviews just keep coming and coming, some of them humorous, some of them insightful, some of them tragic. The tragic ones come from the stories from when he suffered from Huntington's Chorea. The story of his losing his abilities due to the disease is part of the lore of American music. And it is sad.
Guthrie's importance in American music can hardly be overestimated. He is easily the most important songwriter in the folk tradition the nation has produced. The documentary doesn't bring this up, but Woody was writing original songs at a time when the notion of performers producing their own material was unheard of. In contrast, Jimmie Rodgers wrote only a few of the songs that he performed (and many of the songs he "wrote" were actually written by his sister-in-law). This has to be understood in context. The folk music movement was driven by the idea of songs growing organically up from the larger community, from "the people." It was very much part of the left-wing ideology of the movement. Individualism was not important to people like Alan Lomax. The documentary mentions the Library of Congress Recordings that Woody did with Lomax. The reason that Lomax wanted to record Woody was that he thought that Woody knew a lot of traditional folksongs. In fact, only well into the recordings did Lomax suddenly realize that Woody wasn't singing traditional songs, but songs that he had written himself. Although Lomax became a supporter of Woody, he was a challenge to Lomax's ideology.
One of the more disturbing things that comes up in the film - something that I had forgotten from my earlier reading - was the tragic role that fire played in Woody's life. Homes were lost to fire. His sister and a daughter both died from fire. His father was gravely injured from his wife having thrown an oil lamp at him (at a time when she was beginning to suffer from the Huntington's Chorea that she would pass on to her son).
I've added a couple of books to the impossibly large reading list I've compiled over the years. One is Ed Cray's RAMBLIN' MAN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WOODY GUTHRIE. I was impressed with Cray's cold-eyed understanding of Woody. Cray doesn't idealize Woody even though he clearly likes him. I would definitely like to read his biography. The other book I'd like to read is Jim Longhi's memoir WOODY, CISCO, AND ME: SEAMEN THREE IN THE MERCHANT MARINE.
If you have any interest in the music of Woody Guthrie, this documentary is not going to disappoint.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Woody Guthrie, August 13, 2008
Excellent omnibus of modern
American folk music. Made
w/love and care. Should be
in everyone's collection.
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