Let’s Do Woody Guthrie on July 14

Let’s do a Woody Guthrie festival on his birthday this year! Are you in?

If he had survived, he would have been 106 on July 14. It’s a Saturday and a good day for a cookout and a singalong. The incredible Gerardo Contreras of UAW 848 is willing to do the cooking. I believe that both KNON’s “Workers Beat” program and Dallas AFL-CIO would sponsor and benefit from any money we raise.

My idea is to assemble a small choir to perform and lead audience participation songs, just as Woody or Pete Seeger would have done. Individuals or groups might want to do their own performances, but some songs, like “This Land Is Your Land” cry out to have everybody sing.

There are hundreds of songs to choose from, but here are some of the best-known ones.

All You Fascists Bound to Lose  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcKwGS7OSQ (choir- singalong)

Biggest Thing that Man Has Ever Done https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB-YnV0e3Lc

Deportee (Anthony Esparza)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu-duTWccy

Do Re Mi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46mO7jx3JEw

Hard traveling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfq5b1bppJQ

I Ain’t Got No Home / Old Man Trump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jANuVKeYezs

I’ve Got to Know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyo_Hilxlj0

Jesus Christ  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDS00Pnhkqk

“Talking Unions” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU2RUoakYIM

Oklahoma Hills https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYFUUxxn6Vk

Philadelphia Lawyer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjeen-Hl8uc

Pretty Boy Floyd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBF3aXvquHs

Ranger’s Command https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FznriVNbWCI

This Land Is Your Land (choir-singalong) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

Tom Joad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dimhKln0KBg

Union Maid  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1g4ddaXRs0

You Gotta Go Down  and Join the Union https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN8kGzHH00I

Labor’s musical tradition tends to get lost every now and then. Let’s re-discover some of it!

–Gene Lantz

I’m on KNON radio 89.3 FM in Dallas at 9 AM central time every Saturday. Podcasts are available from the “events” tab. If you want to know what I really think, check out my personal web site