Artist: Woody Guthrie
Author: Woody Guthrie
Label: Asch
Year: 1945
Dylan about Woody: "Listening to his songs is learn how to live, how to feel; he was like a guide. I couldn't believe I had never heard of him before." Woody to Dylan: "The words are the important thing. Don't worry about the tunes. Take a tune, sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow and you've got a new tune." This tune reminds Aunt Mollie Jackson's version of One Morning In May; see: The Nightingale.
Covers:
Bob Dylan [as Song To Woody; same tune, as a tip of the hat and one verse from Woody's Pastures Of Plenty]
Judy Collins [as Wild Rippling Water]
Alex Harvey [(UK) as The Michigan Massacre]
Christy Moore [as Tribute To Woody]
On Christmas day 1913 in Calumet, Michigan, copper miners on strike had a solidarity gathering with their families when someone shouted "Fire" while the doors appeared to be blocked. Widespread panic caused the death of 73 trampled, among them 59 children. Became a typecase of anti-unionism while it remained bluntly overlooked in most American history books, reason enough for Woody to rephrase the facts more than thirty years later.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)