Rating: 
Summary: An excellent and well-researched book
Review: This is an excellent and well-researched book. It provides many new insights and much new information about Guthrie. Also, "Ramblin' Man" makes a perfect companion piece with Joe Klein's book "Woody Guthrie; A Life" (which came out over 20 years ago) Woody Guthrie was America's greatest songwriter, with a heart of gold and an indestructible spirit. "Ramblin' Man" is a lovely and inspiring biography of Guthrie.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent and well-researched book
Review: This is an excellent and well-researched book. It provides many new insights and much new information about Guthrie. Also, "Ramblin' Man" makes a perfect companion piece with Joe Klein's book "Woody Guthrie; A Life" (which came out over 20 years ago) Woody Guthrie was America's greatest songwriter, with a heart of gold and an indestructible spirit. "Ramblin' Man" is a lovely and inspiring biography of Guthrie.
Rating:
Summary: Woody Guthrie, Inspiring, Imperfect Hero
Review: You may disagree with Woody Guthrie's politics, or you might not even know who he was, but you know his music. "This Land is Your Land," for instance, is known as "America's folk national anthem," and unlike the real national anthem, normal people can hit all the notes. It used to be taught in public schools; I wonder if it still is, since it might be a little too, well, communal for our current philosophy of carving out one's own sector for profit. Guthrie wrote the song as a response to the treacly "God Bless America," not because he wanted something secular but because he failed to see how God had blessed the sharecroppers and hoboes and Okies Guthrie lived with. "Do Re Mi," "Oklahoma Hills," and a bunch of children's tunes are part of his legacy as well, thousands of songs, mostly one-offs which no one wrote down or recorded. He would easily tear out a rhyme and a tune, and did so passionately whenever he felt for a cause. Frequently inspired, he was also unreliable, irresponsible, and grimy, a difficult man to live with. In Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie (Norton), Ed Cray has given a full portrait of an influential man whose songs and stories are legendary, but has brought forth both legend and truth, and sorted between them nicely. Guthrie, despite his claims to the contrary, had a middle-class upbringing. His father was, of all things, a successful real estate dealer, who was too busy to pay the boy much attention. His mother was distant and uninterested. He was a dedicated student only when he wanted to be; he would listen to local singers and imitate guitar records for hours. In 1937, the 25-year-old Guthrie lit out for California (leaving his wife), by freight train or hitchhiking, as did other migrants. On the road and within the state "he was among people who understood hunger" in camps and shantytowns, and the sense of unfairness to others would never leave him. He never officially joined the Communist party; he was too independent for that (or, "They wouldn't have him," according to his first wife). He did write regularly for the Daily Worker, but instead of earnest propaganda, he presented an aw-shucks column full of personal commentary. He admired Will Rogers, and much of what he wrote for newspapers shows it: "I aint a communist necessarily, but I have been in the red all my life." All three of his wives learned that he did exactly what he wanted, drank too much if he chose, left whenever he decided to, and chased skirts with enthusiasm and success. He had his share of selflessness, and even considerable heroism; included here are stories about his service in World War II that would make any American proud. The most difficult part of the book, unsurprisingly, is Guthrie's descent into neurological doom by the strange affliction Huntington's chorea. It was probably the illness that sent his mother to an asylum, and it gradually took away his ability to play, walk, talk, and think. As sad as this was, it also provided opportunities for his friends and especially his second ex-wife, Marjorie, to demonstrate how deeply he was loved. Pete Seeger, who knew him well and loved his music, had put it well years before: "I can't stand him when he is around, but I miss him when he's gone." There were tributes and concerts in his honor, before and after his death, but the greatest tribute has been the influence he has had on performers like Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and the early Bob Dylan, who called himself a "Woody Guthrie jukebox." This big and comprehensive biography, itself an admiring but unfawning tribute, is just the volume to show why the tributes are deserved to this American original.
Rating:
Summary: Woody Guthrie, Inspiring, Imperfect Hero
Review: You may disagree with Woody Guthrie's politics, or you might not even know who he was, but you know his music. "This Land is Your Land," for instance, is known as "America's folk national anthem," and unlike the real national anthem, normal people can hit all the notes. It used to be taught in public schools; I wonder if it still is, since it might be a little too, well, communal for our current philosophy of carving out one's own sector for profit. Guthrie wrote the song as a response to the treacly "God Bless America," not because he wanted something secular but because he failed to see how God had blessed the sharecroppers and hoboes and Okies Guthrie lived with. "Do Re Mi," "Oklahoma Hills," and a bunch of children's tunes are part of his legacy as well, thousands of songs, mostly one-offs which no one wrote down or recorded. He would easily tear out a rhyme and a tune, and did so passionately whenever he felt for a cause. Frequently inspired, he was also unreliable, irresponsible, and grimy, a difficult man to live with. In Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie (Norton), Ed Cray has given a full portrait of an influential man whose songs and stories are legendary, but has brought forth both legend and truth, and sorted between them nicely. Guthrie, despite his claims to the contrary, had a middle-class upbringing. His father was, of all things, a successful real estate dealer, who was too busy to pay the boy much attention. His mother was distant and uninterested. He was a dedicated student only when he wanted to be; he would listen to local singers and imitate guitar records for hours. In 1937, the 25-year-old Guthrie lit out for California (leaving his wife), by freight train or hitchhiking, as did other migrants. On the road and within the state "he was among people who understood hunger" in camps and shantytowns, and the sense of unfairness to others would never leave him. He never officially joined the Communist party; he was too independent for that (or, "They wouldn't have him," according to his first wife). He did write regularly for the Daily Worker, but instead of earnest propaganda, he presented an aw-shucks column full of personal commentary. He admired Will Rogers, and much of what he wrote for newspapers shows it: "I aint a communist necessarily, but I have been in the red all my life." All three of his wives learned that he did exactly what he wanted, drank too much if he chose, left whenever he decided to, and chased skirts with enthusiasm and success. He had his share of selflessness, and even considerable heroism; included here are stories about his service in World War II that would make any American proud. The most difficult part of the book, unsurprisingly, is Guthrie's descent into neurological doom by the strange affliction Huntington's chorea. It was probably the illness that sent his mother to an asylum, and it gradually took away his ability to play, walk, talk, and think. As sad as this was, it also provided opportunities for his friends and especially his second ex-wife, Marjorie, to demonstrate how deeply he was loved. Pete Seeger, who knew him well and loved his music, had put it well years before: "I can't stand him when he is around, but I miss him when he's gone." There were tributes and concerts in his honor, before and after his death, but the greatest tribute has been the influence he has had on performers like Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and the early Bob Dylan, who called himself a "Woody Guthrie jukebox." This big and comprehensive biography, itself an admiring but unfawning tribute, is just the volume to show why the tributes are deserved to this American original.
Rating:
Summary: Woody Guthrie, Inspiring, Imperfect Hero
Review: You may disagree with Woody Guthrie's politics, or you might not even know who he was, but you know his music. "This Land is Your Land," for instance, is known as "America's folk national anthem," and unlike the real national anthem, normal people can hit all the notes. It used to be taught in public schools; I wonder if it still is, since it might be a little too, well, communal for our current philosophy of carving out one's own sector for profit. Guthrie wrote the song as a response to the treacly "God Bless America," not because he wanted something secular but because he failed to see how God had blessed the sharecroppers and hoboes and Okies Guthrie lived with. "Do Re Mi," "Oklahoma Hills," and a bunch of children's tunes are part of his legacy as well, thousands of songs, mostly one-offs which no one wrote down or recorded. He would easily tear out a rhyme and a tune, and did so passionately whenever he felt for a cause. Frequently inspired, he was also unreliable, irresponsible, and grimy, a difficult man to live with. In Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie (Norton), Ed Cray has given a full portrait of an influential man whose songs and stories are legendary, but has brought forth both legend and truth, and sorted between them nicely. Guthrie, despite his claims to the contrary, had a middle-class upbringing. His father was, of all things, a successful real estate dealer, who was too busy to pay the boy much attention. His mother was distant and uninterested. He was a dedicated student only when he wanted to be; he would listen to local singers and imitate guitar records for hours. In 1937, the 25-year-old Guthrie lit out for California (leaving his wife), by freight train or hitchhiking, as did other migrants. On the road and within the state "he was among people who understood hunger" in camps and shantytowns, and the sense of unfairness to others would never leave him. He never officially joined the Communist party; he was too independent for that (or, "They wouldn't have him," according to his first wife). He did write regularly for the Daily Worker, but instead of earnest propaganda, he presented an aw-shucks column full of personal commentary. He admired Will Rogers, and much of what he wrote for newspapers shows it: "I aint a communist necessarily, but I have been in the red all my life." All three of his wives learned that he did exactly what he wanted, drank too much if he chose, left whenever he decided to, and chased skirts with enthusiasm and success. He had his share of selflessness, and even considerable heroism; included here are stories about his service in World War II that would make any American proud. The most difficult part of the book, unsurprisingly, is Guthrie's descent into neurological doom by the strange affliction Huntington's chorea. It was probably the illness that sent his mother to an asylum, and it gradually took away his ability to play, walk, talk, and think. As sad as this was, it also provided opportunities for his friends and especially his second ex-wife, Marjorie, to demonstrate how deeply he was loved. Pete Seeger, who knew him well and loved his music, had put it well years before: "I can't stand him when he is around, but I miss him when he's gone." There were tributes and concerts in his honor, before and after his death, but the greatest tribute has been the influence he has had on performers like Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and the early Bob Dylan, who called himself a "Woody Guthrie jukebox." This big and comprehensive biography, itself an admiring but unfawning tribute, is just the volume to show why the tributes are deserved to this American original.
|
