Korean Job Discussion Forums

Don Calliente · Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Location: SEOUL

I love Dylan. Been reading a Dylan bio recently and it said that Guthrie was one of his biggest and earliest influences.

About to try and download some of his stuff to check out but if anyone could save me time (as I know he's done a LOT of work) -

What would be some of his best / classic songs for me to check out to see if I like him?

Ta.

sojourner1 · Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:18 pm Post subject:

Me and an older friend listened to older music at home and I discovered many good sounds from yesteryear. Woodie Guthrie wrote many American folk songs such as the famous and historic, "This Land is Your Land."

Here is a great tribute song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZC2IZHGgM

Here is an original recording

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTwhk_p6qZE

About him, his music, and his life:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie

jessie-b · Joined: 17 Apr 2006

If you haven't heard it yet, download, "Last Thoughts on Woody
Guthrie" by Dylan.

Guthrie...i really like , "songs for a mother and child," which he wrote for his wife and baby. You've probably heard all of his songs already at one point or another. He has a lot of talking blues songs. He inspired a lot of the folksies of the fifties and sixtes...his son Arlo, of course, and Pete Seeger. You should also check out Phil Ochs while you're at it.

az · Joined: 18 Jul 2006

not strictly what you were requesting, but definitely very cool, are the 'mermaid avenue' albums, featuring wilco and billy bragg. essentially they cover a whole bunch of unrecorded woody guthrie lyrics. both volumes are excellent. while you're at it, check out the documentary 'man in the sand', about the mermaid avenue project and the life of woody guthrie, primarily told by his daughter nora. enjoy.

keysbottles · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Location: AnJung

This is a good place to find lyrics to his songs.

http://www.roughstock.com/cowpie/songs/

periwinkle · Joined: 08 Feb 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfxoM6trtZE

OMG- I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE "City of New Orleans."

I used to take that train from Chicago to Champaign. I'd get that song stuck in my head every time I heard it. Probably his most famous. ^^

Chorus:

Good morning, America, How are ya?
Don't you know me, I'm your native son?
I'm the train they call the city of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles before the day is done.

ernie · Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Location: asdfghjk

i like how most of his songs involve dust in some way or another

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Here is a list of some of his more famous ones:

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
Do Re Mi
Grand Coulee Dam
Hobo�s Lullaby
1913 Massacre
Oklahoma Hills
Roll On Columbia
Sinking of the Reuben James
So Long It�s Been Good To Know You
This Land is Your Land
This Train is Bound for Glory

Ummm...'City of New Orleans' is often associated with Arlo Guthrie, but it was written by Steve Goodman.

No Thanksgiving is truly complete without listening to Arlo's 'Alice's Restaurant'.

blurgalurgalurga · Joined: 18 Oct 2007

Didn't actually read the thread carefully, this may be a repeat, but 'Pretty Boy Floyd' and 'Philadelphia Lawyer' are great, as is 'Hard Work.'

When Guthrie died, he left a big old box of lyrics with no music attached. His widow gave them to Billy Bragg a few years ago to see what he could do with them...Billy being a good pinko, as was Guthrie, I guess. Anyway Guthrie cut two albums with Wilco (who I don't like particularly--and for that matter, I think most of Bragg's stuff is not so good either) called 'Mermaid Avenue, one and two.'

On the first one there are two really, really great songs: 'Birds and Ships,' sung by Natalie Marchant (again, don't much like her stuff, but that bird can sing pretty damn well) and "Ingrid Bergman." Totally worth the price of a free download.

killyridols · Joined: 08 Dec 2005

Guthrie has a great autobiography (also made into a movie) called 'Bound for Glory' that's defintely worth a read (particularly if you like Kerouac and the like). My old university professor (www.uclan.ac.uk) Will Kaufman is currently doing a one man Guthrie tour where he give his lecture in song. Not sure if it's youtube yet but worth checking out. I also head Rykodisc (Frank Zappa, Meat Puppets, etc) were going to bring out a retrospective of his work, but not heard anything in a long time.

Fofazoju · Joined: 09 May 2006

I thought mermaid avenue was decent. I am a huge Wilco fan tho. I could have done without Billy Bragg - his voice annoys the heck out of me.

periwinkle · Joined: 08 Feb 2003