This day in music history

October 3, 1967, Woody Guthrie dies in New York at the age of 55. He had been suffering from Huntington's disease for ten years. At an early age Woody was influenced by the blues singers of the time. At the beginning of his carrier he had a comedy act as a goofy hillbilly. When he started to travel across America he started writing protest songs and became the voice of the American left. Guthrie championed labor unions and anti-fascist communism.
He hung a sign on his guitar that said "This machine kills fascists" moved by his passion against fascism, during World War II, Woody served in both the Merchant Marine (He shipped out three times and was torpedoed twice) and the Army.
Woody suffered from bouts with alcoholism and madness, he was married three times and had 7 children including Arlo Guthrie.
Woody wrote over a thousand songs, most of which were never recorded. At one time he wrote for a communist paper and his face was put on a US postal stamp.
He is best known for the song "This Land Is Your Land". He wrote the song to show his distaste for the Irving Berlin anthem "God Bless America". Although "This Land" is now a patriotic anthem it didn't start that way. Over the years we have forgotten some of the original lyrics.
This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
[God blessed America for me.]
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway,
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
[God blessed America for me.]
I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me , a voice was sounding:
[God blessed America for me.]
Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn't say nothing --
[God blessed America for me.]
When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:
[God blessed America for me.]
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people --
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
[God blessed America for me.]