0:00:20 > 0:00:22CRICKETS CHIRRUP
0:00:49 > 0:00:51GUITAR AND HARMONICA PLAY
0:02:11 > 0:02:15When he went to the hospital the first time,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17and my mom went to visit him...
0:02:17 > 0:02:21a big German doctor, psychologist type said,
0:02:21 > 0:02:26"Excuse me, Mrs Guthrie, your husband has delusions of grandeur."
0:02:26 > 0:02:29He says he's written a book. Ha-ha-ha.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31He says he's a singer. Ha-ha-ha.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34And my mom says, "No, he's really done all these things."
0:02:34 > 0:02:36And the guy couldn't believe it -
0:02:36 > 0:02:38thought he had a real case and...
0:02:40 > 0:02:42..he didn't.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45And as surprising as it was to the doctor,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48the world finds it surprising...
0:02:49 > 0:02:51..that he could be himself.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53That he could be the legend he'd created.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58- RECORDING:- Woody Guthrie...
0:03:00 > 0:03:03..I guess about 30-years-old from the looks of him,
0:03:03 > 0:03:09but he's seen more in those 30 years than most men...
0:03:09 > 0:03:11see before they're 70.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14He's gone into the world,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and he's looked at the faces of hungry men and women. He's been in hobo towns.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20He's performed on picket lines.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26He's sung his way through every bar and saloon between Oklahoma and California.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27Listen to that red-ball roll.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Woody Guthrie was born into a family made rich by the Oklahoma oil boom.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35But by the time he was eight,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40his mother was in an insane asylum and his father had lost every penny he had.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44His personal life was a catalogue of tragedy and disease.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Yet he had a vision that inspired two generations of Americans.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50The dustiest of the Dust Bowlers,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Guthrie made his own life into a myth.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56He appointed himself spokesman for the poor and oppressed
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and through his songs, turned their life into his own.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10- INTERVIEWER:- Woody, how long is it ago that you were born in Okemah?
0:04:10 > 0:04:1728 years. You wouldn't guess it. I was born there July 14th, 1912.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20All up and down the whole country.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23They got oil. They got some pretty nice oilfields around Okemah there.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26- Did any of the oil come in your family?- No.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29No. We got the grease! WOODY LAUGHS
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Oh, he was just an ordinary kid.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34You couldn't tell...
0:04:35 > 0:04:38I never did hear him sing. He used to...
0:04:38 > 0:04:43We left there before he got...before he started on the road to singing.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46What was that song he made popular?
0:04:48 > 0:04:51This Is My Land, Is Your Land or something like that.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53HE PLAYS HARMONICA
0:05:20 > 0:05:24WOODY: The people down where I come from, they're lonesome for a job.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Lonesome for...good times,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31pretty gals - wine, women and song.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36You know, down and out,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and disgusted and busted and can't be trusted.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Why, it gives you a lonesome feeling...
0:05:45 > 0:05:47We first discovered, Woody and I,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51that we could do a harmonica duet.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54We didn't play the fiddle and the banjo very good,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57but we could play the harmonica a little bit.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02And I played quite a while with Woody before I discovered he played a harmonica left-handed,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04if you can believe that.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Instead of the bass notes down here on the left,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10he turned it over and maybe that helped him make some of those notes.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13You get a lot of low blues notes when you're playing...
0:06:13 > 0:06:15train pieces.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22- HE SPITS - Sorry.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31I learned how to play a French harp off a boy that shines shoes.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34I was passing a barber's shop one day,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36when I was about 15 or 16-years-old,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39and there was a big bare-footed boy laying in there...
0:06:40 > 0:06:43..and had his feet turned up towards me...
0:06:43 > 0:06:45One more time.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47One more time.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48He was a-playing the er...
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Railroad Blues.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19"Boy," I said, "that's undoubtedly the lonesomest..."
0:07:21 > 0:07:24"..piece of music that I ever run onto in my life.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26"Where in the world did you learn it?"
0:07:26 > 0:07:29"Oh," he said, "I just..."
0:07:30 > 0:07:34"..lay and listen to the railroad whistle
0:07:34 > 0:07:37"and whatever it say, I say it too."
0:07:49 > 0:07:52TRAIN HORN BLARES
0:07:56 > 0:07:59HE PLAYS HARMONICA RHYTHMICALLY
0:08:07 > 0:08:11'This is March 22nd, 1940 and we're continuing with
0:08:11 > 0:08:16'Mr Woody Guthrie's records of Texas, Oklahoma...and California.'
0:08:19 > 0:08:23Guthrie's account of his own life was record by the great folklorist Alan Lomax.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Woody was small,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28a combative, aggressive, little guy
0:08:28 > 0:08:30with a great wit
0:08:30 > 0:08:32and you could never get him in the corner
0:08:32 > 0:08:34cos he could always fight his way out with his tongue.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38If you listen to his consonants when he sings.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42He will sing a D after a long held vowel
0:08:42 > 0:08:45and he'll hit it like a boxer hits a bag.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49His enunciation is superb.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Who gave him that idea, I don't know.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56So you understand every single syllable that he sings,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59which is more than you can say for the people who come after him.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Only two fragments of film survive of Guthrie performing.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07One of them, lost in the archives for 40 years,
0:09:07 > 0:09:08has only just come to light.
0:09:11 > 0:09:17# But the rustlers broke on us
0:09:17 > 0:09:21# In the dead hours of night
0:09:21 > 0:09:27# She rose from her blanket
0:09:27 > 0:09:32# A battle to fight
0:09:34 > 0:09:40# She rose from her blanket
0:09:40 > 0:09:45# With a gun in each hand
0:09:45 > 0:09:51# Said, "Come all of, you cowboys
0:09:51 > 0:09:54# "Fight for your land." #
0:09:59 > 0:10:00I wasn't in the...
0:10:00 > 0:10:05class that John Steinbeck called the Okies, cos my dad...
0:10:05 > 0:10:09to start with, was worth about 35 or 40,000
0:10:09 > 0:10:11and he had everything hunky-dory.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Then he started having a little bad luck.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16In fact, our whole family had a little bit of it.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18I don't know whether it's...
0:10:20 > 0:10:24..worth talking about or not. I never do talk it much, but then...
0:10:24 > 0:10:27all of my brothers and sisters.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I got another sister and two brothers and...
0:10:30 > 0:10:34..they all felt pretty good until all these things happened
0:10:34 > 0:10:36and found theirselves scattered.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39All us kids had to scatter out and be adopted by different families.
0:10:40 > 0:10:47I am standing in what was the Woody Guthrie and my home place.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52I don't know. It's kind of hard to describe.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55The only thing that I learned to accept was...
0:10:56 > 0:10:58..Papa's gone, Momma's gone,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Woody's gone, Clara's gone, Roy's gone.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Why should the house not be gone?
0:11:04 > 0:11:07MAN PLAYS HARMONICA
0:11:17 > 0:11:20And this six-room house burned down, that I told you about.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Right after that...
0:11:23 > 0:11:27..my 14-year-old sister...
0:11:29 > 0:11:31..either...
0:11:31 > 0:11:34set herself a-fire or caused a fire accidentally,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37there's two different stories got out about it...
0:11:38 > 0:11:44Anyway, she caught a-fire while she was doing some ironing that afternoon
0:11:44 > 0:11:46on the old kerosene stove.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Run around the house about twice, before anyone could catch her.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51The next day she died.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54WOODY CLEARS HIS THROAT And my mother...
0:11:54 > 0:11:58That was a little bit too much... for her...
0:11:58 > 0:12:00nerves...
0:12:02 > 0:12:07..or something. I don't know exactly how it was. But anyway, my mother...
0:12:07 > 0:12:12died in the insane asylum at Norman, Oklahoma.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14She died of Huntington's chorea,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18a hereditary nervous disease that was to strike Guthrie himself, 20 years later.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24I feel like that Momma's actions were Huntington's then...
0:12:24 > 0:12:27was the reason that she forced Clara to stay home from school
0:12:27 > 0:12:29because she was not thinking rationally.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32And she was more or less punishing Clara.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Clara said, "If you make me stay home from school, I'll kill myself."
0:12:35 > 0:12:36And she did.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40The meantime, someone saw my dad downtown and he said,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43"Charlie, there's a fire and I think it's at your house."
0:12:43 > 0:12:46He lived close enough. He just started running.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51He ran all the way to the house, and when he got there Clara was standing in the front yard
0:12:51 > 0:12:56and her clothes were all burned off her and Papa said her skin was hanging in big sheets,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58just hanging all over.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00And he couldn't touch her. She was burned so bad.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04But he fell down on the ground in front of her and just started...
0:13:04 > 0:13:05just went to pieces.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08She says, "Papa, don't cry. I'm not hurt."
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And she didn't live through the night.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Then about that same time...
0:13:16 > 0:13:17..my father...
0:13:19 > 0:13:22..mysteriously, for some reason or other, caught a-fire.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24There's a lot of people say he set himself a-fire,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28others say... that he caught a-fire accidentally.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I always will think that he done it on purpose.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35He told me that he was working on a car
0:13:35 > 0:13:37and he got gasoline all over him,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40and when he got out from under the car and stood up,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42he lit a cigarette and it exploded.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46Had that happened like Papa said it would,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49it would've burned him here real bad.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Here. Papa didn't have any scars anywhere, except right here.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54So that tells me
0:13:54 > 0:13:59that she did pour the stuff and ignite it while he was lying down.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02He was burned lying down.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07And he would never admit it, cos he'd never say anything against our mother.
0:14:07 > 0:14:08Never.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10And I think that's nice.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12UPBEAT COUNTRY TUNE
0:14:19 > 0:14:24In 1936, Guthrie joined the Pampa Junior Chamber Of Commerce Band.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27He was its leading light.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31If I had never spoken to this little guy in the 10th grade,
0:14:31 > 0:14:36and asked him to draw a picture of a cowboy on a bucking horse,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39I wouldn't have been out here polishing the windows this morning.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45Another member of the band was his future brother-in-law, Matt Jennings.
0:14:45 > 0:14:46He was a regular clown.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48He would play...
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Sometimes he would take hatpins.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52We don't even see hatpins any more.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55And Jeff or somebody would be playing the violin
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and he would beat on the strings with them.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00So you get a secondary effect there.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Besides the bow that's striking the strings,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06you get another... spook in the background there.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10I had very long blonde hair...
0:15:10 > 0:15:12natural blonde hair.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16And the remark he put in one of his books was
0:15:16 > 0:15:19that when he saw me walking down the street, before he met me,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22that he said he was going to marry me.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Now that was kids' stuff.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29They got married in a little Catholic church there,
0:15:29 > 0:15:30in Pampa, Texas.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34I don't know if that was the first time Woody went to church or not.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52- Pretty bad haircut. - THEY LAUGH
0:15:52 > 0:15:57He told Matt that his mother was in the insane asylum.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59He never did tell me that.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01He never did.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04And of course, they did not know what was wrong for many years.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Not until Woody was sick.
0:16:06 > 0:16:12# She rose from her blanket
0:16:12 > 0:16:18# A battle to fight... #
0:16:19 > 0:16:24I think the first time that he ever mentioned his mom,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28we'd had a very lively night and before we went to sleep,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30he started to talk about his mom.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32First time.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36# "..all of, you cowboys
0:16:36 > 0:16:39# "Fight for your land..." #
0:16:39 > 0:16:43He said, "She died last week. I had a letter from Oklahoma and my mother's dead."
0:16:43 > 0:16:46And that got my attention pretty good.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48And, eh...
0:16:48 > 0:16:52And he went on to tell how he'd visited this insane asylum
0:16:52 > 0:16:54before he left Oklahoma.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58And he was there the longest time.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00And she couldn't recognise him.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03But I believe just before he left,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06that she called him over to the bed and said, "You're Woodrow."
0:17:06 > 0:17:09That was a pretty bad afternoon for the little guy,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12he was maybe nine years old or so.
0:17:12 > 0:17:18But he told me that Huntington's Disease could come from
0:17:18 > 0:17:22father to daughter or mother to son.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25That's the only way it could be transmitted so it made him
0:17:25 > 0:17:29some sort of a candidate - about a 50-50 chance that he would get it.
0:17:29 > 0:17:30But, erm...
0:17:31 > 0:17:35We were, like, 19 years old, I guess.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37There was no way in the world anything could go wrong for us.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41You never know. That's the way it is.
0:17:41 > 0:17:42Erm...
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Huh.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:17:58 > 0:18:02# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:18:02 > 0:18:05# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:18:05 > 0:18:10# This dusty old dust is a-blowin' me home
0:18:10 > 0:18:13# I've got to be rollin' along... #
0:18:16 > 0:18:19WOODY: Some of the worst dust storms...
0:18:20 > 0:18:23..in the history of the whole world, I guess,
0:18:23 > 0:18:29broke loose - that was the big middle of the Dust Bowl.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33# I'll sing this song But I'll sing it again
0:18:34 > 0:18:38# Of the place that I lived on the West Texas plains
0:18:41 > 0:18:46# In the city of Pampa The county of Gray
0:18:46 > 0:18:49# Here's what all of the people there say
0:18:49 > 0:18:53# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:18:53 > 0:18:57# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:18:57 > 0:19:00# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:19:00 > 0:19:04# This dusty old dust is a-blowin' me home
0:19:04 > 0:19:07# I've got to be driftin' along... #
0:19:11 > 0:19:13The first song that he ever wrote
0:19:13 > 0:19:18that was played all over the country was, So Long, It's Been Good To Know You
0:19:18 > 0:19:22and this was the Dust Bowl ballad about how bad the Dust Bowl was.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24The dust was blowin' so bad
0:19:24 > 0:19:28that the preacher had called them all in to repent of their sins, you know,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31the world was comin' to an end and all that.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35And he said the dust was so black that the preacher couldn't read his text.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38So he folded his specs and took up a collection!
0:19:39 > 0:19:42And said, "So long, it's good to know you," you know!
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Characters like that that make up lines like that,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48you get a chuckle out of them.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53# The church houses were jammed And packed
0:19:53 > 0:19:58# People was sittin' From front to the back
0:19:58 > 0:20:04# It was so dusty The preacher couldn't read his text
0:20:05 > 0:20:08# So he folded his specs And he took up collections
0:20:08 > 0:20:12# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:20:12 > 0:20:15# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:20:15 > 0:20:19# So long, it's been good to know ya
0:20:19 > 0:20:22# This dusty old dust is a-rollin' me home
0:20:22 > 0:20:25# I've got to be driftin' along. #
0:20:26 > 0:20:29In 1936, without compunction,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Guthrie left his young wife and family
0:20:31 > 0:20:33and embarked on 25 years of rambling.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36He joined the migrants fleeing the Dust Bowl
0:20:36 > 0:20:38and travelled west to California.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41He was never to settle again.
0:20:41 > 0:20:47The Carter family, at that time, were broadcasting from Del Rio, Mexico.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Now, the Carter family had developed a new guitar style,
0:20:51 > 0:20:58which was based on the banjo and had rhythmic action in both hands.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Hammering on, pulling off, sliding, mixed with...
0:21:03 > 0:21:09..contrastive runs from the thumb and then playing the melody at the same time.
0:21:09 > 0:21:10It was a...
0:21:10 > 0:21:13It sounds simple, but it takes a long time to learn
0:21:13 > 0:21:15and Woody had been working on the Carter Family lick
0:21:15 > 0:21:17for years and years.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19And he put that together
0:21:19 > 0:21:23with the harmonica style that he learned from a black man.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29And with a kind of a frailing technique with his right hand
0:21:29 > 0:21:34so that his guitar buzzes and rumbles
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and bounces and jumps and skitters
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and sings all at the same time.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's a unique sound that Woody has.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49If you go back, if you listen to it, it's really like,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52I dunno, it's like being in a big truck
0:21:52 > 0:21:54and hearing a song sung at the same time
0:21:54 > 0:21:57because Woody was riding those trucks.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59And the sound of trucks - and he was riding the trains.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03So you hear the pulse of the drive wheel and the whistle of the locomotive
0:22:03 > 0:22:08and all the racket of the wheels, the regular racket of the wheels.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10It's all going on with that guitar style of Woody's.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39# I ain't got no home I'm just a-ramblin' round
0:22:39 > 0:22:45# I work when I can get it I go from town to town
0:22:45 > 0:22:50# Can't feel a fool No matter where I go
0:22:50 > 0:22:56# Cos I ain't got no home In this world anymore. #
0:22:56 > 0:23:00WOODY: After I was on the highway to California,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03I made about three trips back to Texas
0:23:03 > 0:23:07and back to Oklahoma and back to California again by freight train.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And every time, I saw...
0:23:11 > 0:23:15..100s and 100s and 100s and 1,000s of families
0:23:15 > 0:23:20of people living around under railroad bridges.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25# I'm stranded on that road That goes from sea to sea
0:23:25 > 0:23:30# A hundred thousand others Are stranded same as me
0:23:31 > 0:23:36# A hundred thousand, yes A hundred thousand more
0:23:36 > 0:23:40# And I ain't got no home In this world anymore. #
0:23:51 > 0:23:53- INTERVIEWER:- Did they welcome you
0:23:53 > 0:23:55with bands and banners and everything, or what?
0:23:55 > 0:23:58WOODY: No, they didn't greet us with bands or nothin',
0:23:58 > 0:24:01they asked us questions when we come across the line.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06They tried to turn a lot of us back - the hobos that didn't have any money. We knew.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08We remembered the old tractor sitting back down there,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12covered up with dust, the cows standing up on top of the barn
0:24:12 > 0:24:15and looking out across that dead sea of dust.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16And we said, "No, Mr!"
0:24:18 > 0:24:20# Now listen here, friends I wanna tell you
0:24:20 > 0:24:23# About a brand new dance That you gotta learn to do
0:24:23 > 0:24:25# Called the Oakie Boogie
0:24:25 > 0:24:29# You do it Oakie-style
0:24:29 > 0:24:33# Now the mean old Oakie Boogie Is bound to drive you wild
0:24:34 > 0:24:36# When you get started It's hard to stop
0:24:36 > 0:24:39# If you don't look out You're gonna blow your top
0:24:39 > 0:24:43# When you do the Oakie Boogie And do it Oakie-style
0:24:44 > 0:24:49# Well, the mean old Oakie Boogie Is sure to drive you wild. #
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Guthrie joined his cousin, Jack, on a radio station in Los Angeles.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Thanks a lot, Jack, sure glad you dropped around.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00The nostalgic sounds of Oklahoma were popular among the newly-arrived migrants.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03But by this time, Guthrie had developed a style of his own,
0:25:03 > 0:25:05turning one man's experience
0:25:05 > 0:25:07into the story of all the Dust Bowl refugees.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12# Back in 1927
0:25:12 > 0:25:15# I had a little farm And I called it Heaven
0:25:15 > 0:25:18# Prices up and the rain come down
0:25:18 > 0:25:20# And I hauled my crops all into town
0:25:20 > 0:25:22# I got the money
0:25:23 > 0:25:25# Bought clothes and groceries
0:25:26 > 0:25:28# Fed the kids
0:25:29 > 0:25:30# Took it easy
0:25:31 > 0:25:34# But the rain it quit And the wind got high
0:25:34 > 0:25:36# And the black old dust storms Filled the sky
0:25:36 > 0:25:39# And I swapped my farm For a Ford machine
0:25:39 > 0:25:41# And I filled it full Of this gas-o-line
0:25:41 > 0:25:43# And started
0:25:45 > 0:25:48# Ro-lling on and on...
0:25:49 > 0:25:51# Driftin' to California
0:25:53 > 0:25:55# Way up yonder on a mountain road
0:25:55 > 0:25:58# I had a hot motor and a heavy load
0:25:58 > 0:26:01# I was going pretty fast I wasn't even stoppin'
0:26:01 > 0:26:03# I's a-bouncin' up and down Like popcorn a-poppin'
0:26:03 > 0:26:05# Had a breakdown
0:26:05 > 0:26:10# Sort of a nervous bust-down of the, eh...
0:26:10 > 0:26:14# Mechanism there Some kind of engine trouble
0:26:17 > 0:26:20# Yes, away up yonder On a mountain road
0:26:20 > 0:26:22# I wasn't feeling so very good
0:26:22 > 0:26:25# And I give this rollin' Ford a shove
0:26:25 > 0:26:27# And I's a-gonna coast as far as I could
0:26:29 > 0:26:31# Commenced a-rollin'
0:26:31 > 0:26:34# Pickin' up speed And there was a hairpin turn
0:26:34 > 0:26:36# And I couldn't make it
0:26:38 > 0:26:40# Man alive, I'm a-tellin' you
0:26:40 > 0:26:42# The fiddles and the guitars Really flew
0:26:44 > 0:26:47# That Ford took off Like a flying squirrel
0:26:47 > 0:26:49# And it flew halfway Around the world
0:26:50 > 0:26:54# Scattered wives and children All over the side of that mountain
0:27:05 > 0:27:08# We got to old Los Angeles broke
0:27:08 > 0:27:10# So dad-gum hungry We thought we'd choke
0:27:10 > 0:27:15# And I bummed up a spud or two And my wife cooked up a tater stew
0:27:18 > 0:27:21# Fed the kids a big bite of it
0:27:23 > 0:27:25# But that was mighty thin stew
0:27:26 > 0:27:30# So dad-gum thin you could near Read a magazine through it
0:27:30 > 0:27:32# Hey, if it had been Just a little bit thinner
0:27:32 > 0:27:34# I've always believed
0:27:34 > 0:27:38# If that stew had been Just a little bit thinner
0:27:38 > 0:27:43# Some of our senators Could have seen through it. #
0:27:49 > 0:27:52The migrants that Guthrie travelled with
0:27:52 > 0:27:53had not wanted to leave their homes.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58They'd left because their land had literally turned to dust.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01They were the first Americans
0:28:01 > 0:28:06to spectacularly suffer a major disaster
0:28:06 > 0:28:08in public vision
0:28:08 > 0:28:13and gradually, the country began to acquire its conscience
0:28:13 > 0:28:18by regarding the fate of the Okies and the Arkies.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Steinbeck, of course, did a great job and other writers,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28but I think Woody did a job that was just as important as theirs
0:28:28 > 0:28:30and has lasted, really, longer.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Well, the native Californian sons and daughters, I'll admit,
0:28:36 > 0:28:37had a lot to be proud of.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40They had built up, in California...
0:28:42 > 0:28:45..a wonderful empire.
0:28:46 > 0:28:51Then they hadn't built up quite a wonderful enough empire.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56GUNSHOTS
0:28:56 > 0:28:59What they needed in California
0:28:59 > 0:29:03was more and more people to pick their fruit
0:29:03 > 0:29:05to gather in their peaches,
0:29:05 > 0:29:09to pick their select apricots,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12but at the same time, they looked down, for some reason or other,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16on the people that come in there from other states
0:29:16 > 0:29:17to do that kind of work.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21He was their spokesman.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24He was to tell their story.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27He believed every word he was saying.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29He was as devoted to that
0:29:29 > 0:29:34as any minister that feels he has a call to be a minister.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39He considered himself a spokesman for the downtrodden
0:29:39 > 0:29:41and the people that don't have a voice...
0:29:42 > 0:29:45..and I think the reason he could do that
0:29:45 > 0:29:48was because Woody had suffered in his life.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51TRAIN RATTLES
0:30:07 > 0:30:10TRAIN WHEELS SCREECH
0:30:29 > 0:30:31# It's a mighty hard road
0:30:31 > 0:30:35# That my poor hand has hoed
0:30:35 > 0:30:38# My poor feet has travelled
0:30:38 > 0:30:43# A hot, dusty road
0:30:43 > 0:30:47# Out of your Dust Bowl And Westward we rode
0:30:47 > 0:30:49# And your mountains are hot
0:30:49 > 0:30:53# Your deserts are cold
0:30:56 > 0:30:59# California and Arizona
0:30:59 > 0:31:01# I make all your crops
0:31:01 > 0:31:04# Well, it's north up to Oregon
0:31:04 > 0:31:08# To gather your hops
0:31:08 > 0:31:10# Dig the beets from your ground
0:31:10 > 0:31:13# Cut the grape from your vine
0:31:13 > 0:31:17# To set on your table Your light, sparkling wine
0:31:23 > 0:31:26# Green pastures of plenty
0:31:26 > 0:31:29# From dry desert ground
0:31:29 > 0:31:31# From the Grand Coulee Dam
0:31:31 > 0:31:34# Where the waters run down
0:31:34 > 0:31:39# Every state in this Union Us migrants has been
0:31:39 > 0:31:43# We'll work in your fight And we'll fight till we win... #
0:31:43 > 0:31:48Back in the '30s, used to have the coal trains, you know?
0:31:50 > 0:31:53- You were guaranteed... - HE COUGHS
0:31:53 > 0:31:55You were guaranteed they were going to stop.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59From one town, they're going to stop at the next town.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02But with these diesel engines,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05they're going to go 300-400 miles before they stop.
0:32:07 > 0:32:08When are you going to stop?
0:32:08 > 0:32:10- Huh?- When are you going to stop?
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Probably when they bury me.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16I ain't going to stop.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20I'm going to keep moving till I drop dead.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26# Well, it's always we've rambled That river and I
0:32:27 > 0:32:33# All along your green valley I will work till I die
0:32:33 > 0:32:38# My land, I'll defend With my life, if it be
0:32:38 > 0:32:43# Because my pastures of plenty Must always be free. #
0:32:43 > 0:32:45TRAIN'S WHISTLE TOOTS
0:32:51 > 0:32:53PIANO PLAYS
0:32:54 > 0:32:58ALL: # This land is your land This land is my land
0:32:58 > 0:33:03# From California To New York Island
0:33:03 > 0:33:05# From the redwood forests
0:33:05 > 0:33:08# To the Gulf Stream waters
0:33:08 > 0:33:12# This land was made for you and me... #
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Guthrie's original title for This Land Is Your Land
0:33:15 > 0:33:17was God Blessed America.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21It was an answer to the Irvine Berlin anthem, which he hated,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24and it expressed his own fierce brand of patriotism.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27# ..A voice was chanting
0:33:27 > 0:33:30# This land was made for you and me. #
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Ah! I'm out again!
0:33:41 > 0:33:45It became his most famous song and, ironically,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48the second national anthem, though not with all the original verses.
0:33:48 > 0:33:49It's sharp...
0:33:51 > 0:33:56# In the squares of the city By the shadow of the steeple
0:33:56 > 0:34:01# By the relief office I saw my people
0:34:01 > 0:34:06# As they stood there hungry I stood there whistling... #
0:34:06 > 0:34:07What did he whistle?
0:34:07 > 0:34:10# This land was made For you and me
0:34:11 > 0:34:14# Was a great high wall there
0:34:14 > 0:34:16# Trying to stop me
0:34:16 > 0:34:18# Was a great big sign there
0:34:18 > 0:34:21# Said, private property
0:34:21 > 0:34:25# But on the other side It didn't say nothing
0:34:27 > 0:34:30# That side was made for you and me
0:34:31 > 0:34:33# This land is your land
0:34:33 > 0:34:35# This land is my land... #
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Do you know, what gives me courage, is to think that this song
0:34:40 > 0:34:45was never on the top 40, it was never on the top of the hit parade,
0:34:45 > 0:34:49but hundreds of millions of people know the song now.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51TRAIN BLOWS WHISTLE
0:35:01 > 0:35:03GUITAR AND HARMONICA PLAY
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Woody Guthrie is...
0:35:36 > 0:35:39I guess about 30 years old from the looks of him,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43but...he's seen more in those 30 years
0:35:43 > 0:35:44than most men...
0:35:45 > 0:35:48..see before they're 70.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51He's looked at the faces of hungry men and women.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53He's been in hobo towns.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56He's performed on picket lines.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00He's sung his way through every bar and saloon between Oklahoma and California.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02And listen to that red-ball roll.
0:36:07 > 0:36:13I met him at a benefit and Woody had just hit town from California
0:36:13 > 0:36:16and someone invited him to sing and he stopped the show.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21This little dusty-headed man.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Sometimes he couldn't finish his concerts in those days
0:36:24 > 0:36:27because he would start talking, like Will Rogers,
0:36:27 > 0:36:29who he adored,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32and would keep on telling jokes for maybe an hour and a half,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34maybe sing one song at the end.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Well, that sophisticated New York audience
0:36:38 > 0:36:40had never heard anything like him. Nor had I.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44In New York, Guthrie was adopted by a group of left-wing intellectuals
0:36:44 > 0:36:48who believed that folk music was the true voice of the people.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51In Guthrie, they found not only a man of the people
0:36:51 > 0:36:54but one whose views were even more left-wing than their own.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57He became the champion of a new musical movement.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Here we were, all trying to look like country, you know?
0:37:00 > 0:37:03In our blue jeans and our work shirts.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08Trying desperately to look like people from the country, so we had a right to sing these songs,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12and here comes this guy from Oklahoma, the real thing, you know?
0:37:12 > 0:37:18Erm, when I look back now, I wonder what Woody saw when he saw us all.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Nobody I knew literally slept in their clothes all the time.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Erm...
0:37:25 > 0:37:27You really were afraid to...
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I mean, nobody in their right mind would pat him on the head,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33because he had... So much about Woody was proto.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35He had proto-Afro hair-dos.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38He had very wiry hair, it went out like this,
0:37:38 > 0:37:41and you didn't dare touch it because you didn't know what would fly out.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43Rats, mice, bats, birds? Dead birds?
0:37:46 > 0:37:47He was generally filthy.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50# John Henry when he was a baby
0:37:51 > 0:37:54# Sittin' down on his mammy's knee
0:37:54 > 0:37:58# Picked up a hammer in his little right hand
0:37:58 > 0:38:01# That's gonna be the death of me
0:38:02 > 0:38:06# That hammer'll be the death of me
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- # Hammer'll be the death of me - Oh, Lord
0:38:09 > 0:38:13# Hammer'll be the death of me
0:38:13 > 0:38:16# Well, the captain, He said to John Henry
0:38:16 > 0:38:19# I'm gonna bring My steam drill around
0:38:19 > 0:38:24# I'm gonna bring my steam drill Out on this job
0:38:24 > 0:38:27# Whup that steel on down
0:38:27 > 0:38:30# And I'm gonna whup That steel on down... #
0:38:47 > 0:38:51You had a feeling of a sense of history when you were round him.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Cos we were both active Communists
0:38:57 > 0:39:00and Communists have a strong sense of history too.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04He and I sang for the CIO Unions,
0:39:04 > 0:39:09many of which had Communist organisers, back in 19...
0:39:10 > 0:39:12The early '40s.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15When he met with the Communist Party he said,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17"There's guys doing something about it.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19"I knew Jesus was talking about it
0:39:19 > 0:39:21"but these guys are doing something!"
0:39:21 > 0:39:25And now, friends, this meeting is called on the office of the American Workers Party,
0:39:25 > 0:39:30an organisation dedicated to the organising of the working class of America
0:39:30 > 0:39:32and the overthrow of Capitalism.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34An organisation that...
0:39:34 > 0:39:38# Jesus Christ was a man That travelled through the land
0:39:38 > 0:39:42# Hard-working man and brave
0:39:42 > 0:39:45# He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor"
0:39:45 > 0:39:49# So they laid Jesus Christ In his grave
0:39:50 > 0:39:55# This song was written In New York City
0:39:55 > 0:39:58# Of rich men, preachers and slaves
0:40:01 > 0:40:05# If Jesus was to preach Like he preached in Galilee
0:40:05 > 0:40:10# They would lay Jesus Christ In his grave... #
0:40:11 > 0:40:13The point is he believed the image.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17I guess he believed his image, as much as Jesus believed his.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23Erm... You could never have convinced Jesus that he was just another, erm...
0:40:26 > 0:40:30..crack-pot Jewish radical, during the Roman Empire.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Guthrie's sense of his own destiny was confirmed
0:40:33 > 0:40:35when he was invited to Oregon
0:40:35 > 0:40:38to write a cycle of songs in praise of the Grand Coulee Dam.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41This was to be the most productive month of his life.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44In almost as many days, he wrote 26 songs,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47all hymns to the American working man.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50# I've been a-having Some hard travelling
0:40:50 > 0:40:51# I thought you know'd
0:40:51 > 0:40:54# I've been a-having Some hard travelling
0:40:54 > 0:40:56# Way down the road
0:40:56 > 0:40:58# I've been a-having Some hard travelling
0:40:58 > 0:41:00# Hard rambling Hard gambling
0:41:00 > 0:41:03# I've been having Some hard travelling, Lord. #
0:41:03 > 0:41:08He was a little shrimp of a guy but he really...
0:41:10 > 0:41:13..thought highly of the...
0:41:14 > 0:41:17..man's way of doing things.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20# I've been working At Pittsburgh Steel
0:41:20 > 0:41:21# I thought you know'd
0:41:21 > 0:41:25# I've been pouring red-hot slag Way down the road
0:41:25 > 0:41:27# I've been blasting And I've been firing
0:41:27 > 0:41:29# I've been pouring red-hot iron
0:41:29 > 0:41:31# And I've been having Some hard travelling, Lord. #
0:41:53 > 0:41:54Did you like Woody?
0:41:55 > 0:41:57No.
0:42:00 > 0:42:01Why not?
0:42:03 > 0:42:05I found it difficult to like him.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08I found I was afraid of him.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13Erm, I was very young when I met him.
0:42:13 > 0:42:1716, 18, 19... That time.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20And then, a little bit later.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22Erm, I didn't understand him.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27I knew I was supposed to think he was marvellous.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31I thought his songs were...
0:42:32 > 0:42:34They were amazing,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37but the man was frightening...
0:42:39 > 0:42:40..to me.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44And I was always very uncomfortable with him.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47"What the hell are singing a whorehouse ballad for?
0:42:47 > 0:42:50"You're nothing but a virgin. You're a small-town virgin.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53"How can you sing a song like that? How can you dare sing the blues?"
0:42:53 > 0:42:56As a matter of fact, Pete himself did the same blues for years,
0:42:56 > 0:43:00because of that kind of onus that Woody put on to him.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05So-and-so was "college-bred", therefore they didn't know "The People".
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Capital T - The, capital P - People.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11Erm...which may be true, but don't rub it in.
0:43:11 > 0:43:17Oh, he'd occasionally needle me about my Eastern mannerisms.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Yeah, I think once I did get so mad at him, I stormed out of the house.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29Maybe I admired him so much that I didn't care if he did insult me
0:43:29 > 0:43:31from time to time.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35The person was revolting, to me.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41I don't know that anybody admired the person. He was offensive, he was insulting...
0:43:43 > 0:43:46The artist was...incredible.
0:43:46 > 0:43:53So, I think everybody put up with the shit of the personality
0:43:53 > 0:43:59for the diamonds that came out of that mind.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02I've tried to describe what Woody's voice did to me, just his voice,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04and it was...
0:44:07 > 0:44:10A knife is no good as an image.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13A razor is better,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16but a razor is too broad and has too much surface.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19A stiletto, that's sharp all the way, went right in.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Right in, pierced you through and through and your hair stood on end.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26It was a scream
0:44:26 > 0:44:29or a sneer
0:44:29 > 0:44:32of extraordinary power.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45# Mighty hard road That my poor hands have hoed
0:44:45 > 0:44:49# My poor feet have travelled That hot, dusty road
0:44:52 > 0:44:54# Out of your Dust Bowl
0:44:54 > 0:44:56# And westward we roam
0:44:56 > 0:45:02# And your deserts was hot And your mountains was cold
0:45:14 > 0:45:18# California, Arizona I make all your crops
0:45:19 > 0:45:24# Then it's up to Oregon To gather your hops
0:45:24 > 0:45:29# On the edge of your city You see us and then
0:45:29 > 0:45:34# We come with the dust And we're gone with the wind
0:45:46 > 0:45:50# It's always we rambled That river and I
0:45:51 > 0:45:57# All along your green valley I'll work till I die
0:45:58 > 0:46:03# My land, I'll defend With my life, if it be
0:46:04 > 0:46:11# Cos my pastures of plenty Must always be free. #
0:46:18 > 0:46:21"Dig the beet from the ground And the grape from the vine
0:46:21 > 0:46:25"To set on your table Your light, sparkling wine."
0:46:25 > 0:46:27I mean, that's genius!
0:46:27 > 0:46:30There's a sweep of America.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35Two classes in a short verse,
0:46:35 > 0:46:36and that was Woody.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40He had that kind of mind, that kind of imagination.
0:46:40 > 0:46:46Nothing daunts him. That business about, "The car couldn't make it on the hairpin curve",
0:46:46 > 0:46:48or, "The car, we just didn't make it,"
0:46:48 > 0:46:50and the next verse is...
0:46:50 > 0:46:54"Wives and children falling all over that mountain."
0:46:54 > 0:46:57And even the humour of making wife plural,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01because he knew his own sex life, was filled with wives in Brooklyn
0:47:01 > 0:47:03and wives in Oklahoma, and wives all over...
0:47:03 > 0:47:05And he married several of them.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Guthrie's second wife was Marjorie Mazia,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10a ballet dancer from New York.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14Married only two years, with a baby daughter, he was on the move again.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17EXPLOSION
0:47:22 > 0:47:25He joined the Merchant Navy with fellow folk-singer Cisco Houston
0:47:25 > 0:47:29and a young Italian New Yorker, Jimmy Longhi.
0:47:29 > 0:47:30First time I met Woody...
0:47:32 > 0:47:37I wouldn't be here, sitting here in my beautiful apartment,
0:47:37 > 0:47:39overlooking the East River...
0:47:40 > 0:47:42..if it weren't for Woody.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Apart from the fact that he literally saved my life,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49when we were torpedoed...
0:47:51 > 0:47:55We were in the invasion of France, Normandy,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Woody was standing near the porthole,
0:48:00 > 0:48:05Cisco was sitting in his bunk tying his shoe.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08I was in my bunk directly above Cisco,
0:48:08 > 0:48:11with a pillow behind my head, listening to Woody.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13And Woody's saying to me...
0:48:14 > 0:48:19"You've never seen Jane Dudley dance the Harmonica Breakdown?"
0:48:20 > 0:48:24"No, Woody, I never saw Jane Dudley dance the Harmonica Breakdown."
0:48:24 > 0:48:27He said, "Well, before you die...
0:48:27 > 0:48:32"you're going to see Jane Dudley dance the Harmonica Breakdown."
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Now, as he's saying this,
0:48:34 > 0:48:39he is floating through the air, and I'm watching him.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43And he hits the ceiling, the overhead.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47What happened - we were hit by an enormous mine, an explosion.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50My brain went berserk.
0:48:50 > 0:48:51Everything became slow motion.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Woody's lips were moving thusly,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57and as he was saying, "You must see Jane Dudley
0:48:57 > 0:49:00"dance the Harmonica Breakdown before you die,"
0:49:00 > 0:49:04I'm watching, and then "BANG!" I hear the noise,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07and we all go boom, boom, the whole ship was flying up and down.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09And I get thrown out of my bunk.
0:49:09 > 0:49:14My bunk collapses. It skinned Cisco, it almost killed Cisco.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18Steel bunker, I weighed 200lb, but it came down on me.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21I get thrown to the steel deck,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23and that's all I remember.
0:49:23 > 0:49:24I was unconscious.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27The ship was taking water.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31Woody and Cisco, of course they were running out, they were up on deck,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33you know, "Where the hell are we?"
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Then they realise that I'm not with them.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Woody and Cisco came down below
0:49:40 > 0:49:42to find me.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46They picked me up and they took me out.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49So I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04I never saw Woody laugh.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08I never saw Woody smile,
0:50:08 > 0:50:09just a flicker of a smile.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12And I never saw Woody cry.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16Cisco tells me once Woody cried,
0:50:16 > 0:50:20when his child, five-year-old child Cathy was burnt to death
0:50:20 > 0:50:22in his apartment.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29Woody was stoical, there was no reaction from Woody for three days.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Then we were walking on the sands of Coney Island,
0:50:32 > 0:50:37and suddenly Woody threw himself on the sand, on his back,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39and put his feet up in the air,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42and scre-e-e-e-a-amed...
0:50:44 > 0:50:45..for three, four minutes.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50And then got up, and never mentioned it again.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53But on that half-Indian face,
0:50:53 > 0:50:54not half, quarter-Indian,
0:50:54 > 0:50:59the face of his stoicism, and a calm beauty.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01- RADIO:- Hello, children.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05This afternoon we've got in the studio Woody Guthrie,
0:51:05 > 0:51:09who's a very well-known singer of folk songs over here.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12Though at the moment you're in the Merchant Navy, aren't you, Woody?
0:51:12 > 0:51:15That's right. Washing dishes on a liberty ship.
0:51:15 > 0:51:21- PRESENTER LAUGHS - And during his leave, Woody has come in to make a programme for you.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24Shall we have the first one, Woody? What was it going to be?
0:51:26 > 0:51:30# Take me riding in the car, car Take me riding in the car, car
0:51:30 > 0:51:34# Take you riding in my car, car I'll take you riding in my car
0:51:34 > 0:51:38# Brrrr-brr-brr-brr-brr brr-brr Brrrr-brr-brr-brr-brr brr-brr
0:51:38 > 0:51:41# Brr-brr-brr brr-brr-brr brr brr Brr-brr-brr-brr-brr-brr... #
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Well, I really didn't know him then,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48but the books have indicated the terrible tragedy...
0:51:49 > 0:51:51..with the death of the daughter,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53who was left in the house,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57and Woody went downstairs to get some cigarettes.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59When he came back, the poor girl was on fire.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03They took her to the hospital and she died soon after.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05# Click clack Open up the door, girls
0:52:05 > 0:52:07# Click clack Open up the door, boys
0:52:07 > 0:52:09# Front door, back door Clickety clack
0:52:09 > 0:52:11# Take you riding in my car
0:52:11 > 0:52:14# Brrrr-brr-brr-brr-brr brr-brr Brrrr-brr-brr-brr-brr brr-brr
0:52:14 > 0:52:18# Brr-brr-brr brr-brr brr brr # Brr-brr-brr-brr-brr brr... #
0:52:18 > 0:52:19SILENCE
0:52:19 > 0:52:22# I'm gonna zoom you home again I'm gonna zoom you home again
0:52:22 > 0:52:26# Brr-brr, brr-brr-brrm, roll home Take you riding in my car. #
0:52:26 > 0:52:27SILENCE
0:52:27 > 0:52:31# I'm gonna let you blow the horn I'm gonna let you blow the horn
0:52:31 > 0:52:36# A-oorah, a-oorah, a-oorah, oorah I'll take you riding in my car. #
0:52:36 > 0:52:39SILENCE
0:52:43 > 0:52:47The late '20s, when his sister died,
0:52:47 > 0:52:52a fire in the house, a lamp kind of spilt over
0:52:52 > 0:52:56and Woody came in and found her running around in flames.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01Then after that, I think it was the death of his mother,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05who died, I believe, somewhere in an asylum in Oklahoma.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Then you have here in New York, right on this street,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Woody's first daughter with Marjorie,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16died in a fire.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19She was maybe five or six years old.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Then you have almost a litany of tragedies.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30His son from Mary, Bill Guthrie...
0:53:32 > 0:53:34..perhaps he was in his twenties,
0:53:34 > 0:53:36and he died in an automobile accident.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40His car got stuck in the railroad tracks and a train hit him.
0:53:41 > 0:53:47Then after that, his daughter Gwen, who was in her late thirties,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50got Huntington's disease and died from it.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55He had another daughter by his last marriage,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58and she was again in her early twenties at that point,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02and she was killed in an automobile accident in California.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07And just last week I received a letter from Mary,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10that Woody's and Mary's daughter...
0:54:14 > 0:54:16..is dying from the disease.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19I would say she's in her early forties.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21Mid-forties.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24And you have this whole litany of tragedies.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26And then of course, Woody.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32It is a disease that totally destroys the nervous system.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35You cannot...
0:54:35 > 0:54:38The nervous system and mental.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41It can be both, or it can be one or the other.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45But as far as any doctor's ever told me,
0:54:45 > 0:54:47they will tell you it is both.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50Some people are worse than others mentally,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53but it does affect the brain also.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56It slowly deteriorates the brain.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01But you get to where you have no control over any of your muscles.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06You can't walk, you can't talk, you can't eat, you can't swallow.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11You're just...about a vegetable.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Now, this is after you've had it for quite some...
0:55:15 > 0:55:18It can... It can take you...
0:55:19 > 0:55:22Well, my other daughter lived ten years.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26But she started out very bad at the beginning.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30In the case of my younger daughter, she started out slowly.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33And it's been 17 years now
0:55:33 > 0:55:35that she's had Huntington's.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38And I know Woody was in the hospital 15 years.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45And I absolutely refuse to think about my grandchildren.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49By the time they would get old enough, I'm not going to be around,
0:55:49 > 0:55:52and I feel that I've got to put that out of my head.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54I'm not going to let that get to me.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01And maybe, maybe they'll have something, but I wouldn't bet on it.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05See, some people see it as some kind of doom and gloom.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07I don't see it that way.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11I see it as just another...um...
0:56:12 > 0:56:15..thing that you have to learn,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18and you have to cope with, and you have to get over.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21And the thing you have to get over is the idea that you are...
0:56:21 > 0:56:25you know, just some kind of piece of meat walking around
0:56:25 > 0:56:30that, you know, increases in volume and then turns to dust.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33If that's all you think you are,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36you're not going to have the opportunities
0:56:36 > 0:56:40to move ahead philosophically,
0:56:40 > 0:56:41or spiritually.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49When I had a chance to go through some of his work,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52I found out a little bit more with what he was struggling with,
0:56:52 > 0:56:57struggling with questions like, "Why me? How come I got sick?
0:56:57 > 0:56:59"Is God going to help me?
0:56:59 > 0:57:01"Is there any help for me?
0:57:01 > 0:57:03"Can man help me?
0:57:03 > 0:57:06"How am I going to get out of this mess? Is there an out?"
0:57:06 > 0:57:10And I think my dad's journey was a spiritual journey.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12It was a mystical journey, his whole life.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15# I've been havin' Some hard travellin'
0:57:15 > 0:57:18# Way down the road
0:57:18 > 0:57:20# I've been havin' Some hard travellin'
0:57:20 > 0:57:22# Hard ramblin', hard gamblin'
0:57:22 > 0:57:26# I've been havin' Some hard travellin', lord... #
0:57:26 > 0:57:30This song was put together back in the 1930s,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33by a fella some of you may know.
0:57:33 > 0:57:34His name was Woody Guthrie.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Woody has been in a hospital now for ten years,
0:57:38 > 0:57:41probably won't write another song.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47But he was one of the greatest balladmakers I guess I'll ever know.
0:57:47 > 0:57:52Wrote songs about the Dust Bowl, about the crops of California,
0:57:52 > 0:57:53wrote songs for his children.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56A lot of people have heard his songs.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58They're getting more well known every year.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02But I thought maybe right now you'd be interested to perhaps see him.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04This is him.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09# In the dead hours of night
0:58:09 > 0:58:14# She rose from her blanket
0:58:14 > 0:58:19# A battle to fight
0:58:21 > 0:58:27# She rose from her blanket
0:58:28 > 0:58:32# With a gun in each hand
0:58:32 > 0:58:38# Said, "Come all of, you cowboys
0:58:38 > 0:58:41# "Fight for your land." #
0:58:43 > 0:58:46A new generation was now claiming Guthrie as its own.
0:58:46 > 0:58:48Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan,
0:58:48 > 0:58:50Paul Simon, Joan Baez.
0:58:50 > 0:58:53His canonisation had begun,
0:58:53 > 0:58:56and his very first disciple was Ramblin' Jack Elliott,
0:58:56 > 0:58:59seen here with a bearded Guthrie in Washington Square.
0:59:00 > 0:59:04I watched him play really well for two years -
0:59:04 > 0:59:07'51 and '52.
0:59:10 > 0:59:12I guess it wasn't till about 1954
0:59:12 > 0:59:16that he started kind of loose guitar picking into it.
0:59:16 > 0:59:18HE PLAYS A SHORT TUNE
0:59:19 > 0:59:24He did some things on the guitar that I still cannot do,
0:59:24 > 0:59:26while I could hear how it sounded.
0:59:26 > 0:59:27One of them was...
0:59:27 > 0:59:29HE PLAYS A COMPLICATED TUNE
0:59:34 > 0:59:36I couldn't get him to teach it to me.
0:59:36 > 0:59:39Somehow he would let me learn something.
0:59:39 > 0:59:42I'd say, "Hey, how'd you do that?"
0:59:42 > 0:59:45He'd say, "Just watch it and steal it. I ain't going to show it to you.
0:59:45 > 0:59:48"Leadbelly, let me steal from him and you can steal from me.
0:59:48 > 0:59:50"I ain't going to show you nothin'."
0:59:52 > 0:59:55The last few years, he couldn't really speak at all.
0:59:55 > 0:59:57Just a blur came out of his mouth.
1:00:00 > 1:00:03Bob Dylan visited him, but I doubt they had much of a conversation.
1:00:05 > 1:00:08He was just one more young fellow with a guitar.
1:00:08 > 1:00:10When Woody got sick,
1:00:10 > 1:00:13and I used to get his letters that he was writing to me,
1:00:13 > 1:00:15they were so ineligible.
1:00:15 > 1:00:17I could not read them.
1:00:17 > 1:00:19I mean illegible. That's the word I needed.
1:00:22 > 1:00:25When I got these letters that you couldn't read his writing,
1:00:25 > 1:00:27I would just break down
1:00:27 > 1:00:30and just boo-hoo, I mean just boo-hoo, just go all to pieces.
1:00:30 > 1:00:31And then, I...
1:00:31 > 1:00:36As I got them regularly, I got where I could get through them.
1:00:36 > 1:00:40But that was the hardest thing for me to accept.
1:00:40 > 1:00:44And then I went to visit Woody and then I saw him,
1:00:44 > 1:00:48and the only way I was really sure that everything was OK mentally,
1:00:48 > 1:00:53because he always liked to tell it in the hospital, he says...
1:00:53 > 1:00:58He says, "I'm the one that looks the craziest."
1:00:58 > 1:01:02He says, "And I'm the only one in here with a mind."
1:01:04 > 1:01:06And so to check that out,
1:01:06 > 1:01:09he's sitting there, you know, like this,
1:01:09 > 1:01:13and I knew that he would be briefed, he knew I was coming,
1:01:13 > 1:01:15and to expect me.
1:01:15 > 1:01:17And I said... So I knew...
1:01:17 > 1:01:22I thought, it's easy for him to say "Do you know me?" and he'd say, "Yeah, you're Mary Jo."
1:01:22 > 1:01:25And I said, "OK, Woody, what do you call me?
1:01:25 > 1:01:29"What is your nickname for me, you gave me?"
1:01:29 > 1:01:31He says, "Tinken."
1:01:31 > 1:01:33And I knew then everything was OK.
1:01:57 > 1:02:03# If you gather round me, children
1:02:06 > 1:02:11# A story I will tell about Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw
1:02:12 > 1:02:16# Oklahoma knew him well
1:02:19 > 1:02:24# It was in the town of Shawnee
1:02:26 > 1:02:30# A Saturday afternoon His wife beside him in his wagon
1:02:33 > 1:02:36# And into town they rode
1:02:40 > 1:02:45# There a deputy sheriff Approached him
1:02:45 > 1:02:49# A manner rather rude Using vulgar words of language
1:02:51 > 1:02:54# And his wife, she overheard
1:02:56 > 1:03:01# Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain The deputy grabbed his gun
1:03:01 > 1:03:04# And then the fight that followed
1:03:06 > 1:03:09# He laid that deputy down
1:03:29 > 1:03:33# Now there's a many A starving farmer
1:03:33 > 1:03:37# The same old story told How this outlaw paid their mortgage
1:03:39 > 1:03:42# And saved their little homes
1:03:44 > 1:03:49# Others tell you of a stranger That come to beg a meal
1:03:49 > 1:03:52# Then underneath his napkin
1:03:53 > 1:03:58# Left a thousand dollar bill... #
1:04:14 > 1:04:18After going through all he went through,
1:04:18 > 1:04:22to be cut down by Huntington's chorea at the age of 40...
1:04:24 > 1:04:26It was...
1:04:26 > 1:04:28Dignity, can't believe it.
1:04:28 > 1:04:31Huntington's chorea, the mind is clear.
1:04:31 > 1:04:35It's just that the nerves and the muscles don't function.
1:04:36 > 1:04:39To see Woody light a cigarette...
1:04:42 > 1:04:44He wouldn't let anybody else do it for him.
1:04:52 > 1:04:55He'd try to strike the match.
1:04:56 > 1:04:58You don't say, "Will you let me do it?"
1:04:58 > 1:04:59You just sit there.
1:05:01 > 1:05:05And finally, he'd get it and he'd look at you through his eyes.
1:05:05 > 1:05:07He's talking to you but he can't speak.
1:05:10 > 1:05:13The last time I saw him...
1:05:19 > 1:05:22..I said..."Do you love me?"
1:05:26 > 1:05:27He blinked.
1:05:29 > 1:05:32And that was his way of saying yes.
1:05:39 > 1:05:41We have to have a Woody.
1:05:41 > 1:05:45You have to take him warts and all, like they say.
1:05:47 > 1:05:51No, I knew Woody at the very best time in his life
1:05:51 > 1:05:54when he was a young man with lots of ideals
1:05:54 > 1:05:57and, I thought, a lot of talent.
1:05:57 > 1:05:59And that's the Woody I centre on.
1:05:59 > 1:06:01That's the one I come in on
1:06:01 > 1:06:03and I'm not going to remember any other Woody.
1:06:14 > 1:06:16# This land is your land
1:06:16 > 1:06:19# And this land is my land
1:06:19 > 1:06:21# From the California
1:06:21 > 1:06:23# To the New York island
1:06:23 > 1:06:26# And the Redwood Forest
1:06:26 > 1:06:29# And the Gulf Stream waters
1:06:29 > 1:06:33# This land was made for you and me
1:06:34 > 1:06:37# As I went a-walking
1:06:37 > 1:06:39# That ribbon of highway
1:06:39 > 1:06:41# I saw above me
1:06:41 > 1:06:44# That endless skyway
1:06:44 > 1:06:46# Saw below me
1:06:46 > 1:06:50# That golden valley
1:06:50 > 1:06:53# This land was made for you and me
1:06:55 > 1:06:57# When the sun comes shining
1:06:57 > 1:07:00# And I was strolling
1:07:00 > 1:07:02# And the wheat fields waving
1:07:02 > 1:07:05# And the dust clouds rolling
1:07:05 > 1:07:08# The voice was chatting
1:07:08 > 1:07:11# And the fog was lifting
1:07:11 > 1:07:14# This land was made For you and me. #
1:07:14 > 1:07:17Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd