According to Today in Labor History (with a HT to Tom Morello) today 70 years ago, Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land'. You can see the original handwritten manuscript at woodyguthrie.org
Today in Labor History says: "Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” following a frigid trip – partially by hitchhiking, partially by rail – from California to Manhattan. The Great Depression was still raging. Guthrie had heard Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” and resolved to himself: “We can’t just bless America, we’ve got to change it."
Here, Pete Seeger and Friends perform the song at Pete's 90th Birthday Concert.
You can see Bruce Springsteen play the song here, while Bruce and Pete Seeger play it here for President Obama's inauguration.
Here's one of my favorite versions, by Steve Earle:
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
'Who has the words to close the distance between you and me..'
I remember this like it was yesterday.
And I remember thinking at the time that whatever emotions I had as an outsider - primarily happiness that justice could eventually prevail - were insignificant compared with the feelings among the people of South Africa amid the uncertainty over how their future would unfold.
The challenges they have faced since then have been great, and continue. But the joy of that day was momentous, and the inspiration of the man as a human being remains undiminished.
"It is music and dancing that makes me at peace with the world."
And I remember thinking at the time that whatever emotions I had as an outsider - primarily happiness that justice could eventually prevail - were insignificant compared with the feelings among the people of South Africa amid the uncertainty over how their future would unfold.
The challenges they have faced since then have been great, and continue. But the joy of that day was momentous, and the inspiration of the man as a human being remains undiminished.
"It is music and dancing that makes me at peace with the world."
Thursday, January 28, 2010
'Life's Been Good To Me So Far..'
Great story today about a row between guitarist Joe Walsh (The Eagles, The James Gang) and candidate Joe Walsh (Republican Congresssional aspirant from Illinois) over the latter's use in his campaign of a rewritten version of one of the former's songs.
Parody? Copyright violation? Might end up being left to a judge.
You can watch Candidate Joe's version at The New York Times piece, which has the letter from Guitar Joe's lawyer, which says:
"Under that same United States Copyright Act, you’re not allowed to take someone’s song and change the lyrics. This is not to say you’re not allowed to write silly lyrics, you just have to write them to your own music. Now, I know why you used Joe’s music — it’s undoubtedly because it’s a lot better than any music you or your staff could have written. But that’s the point. Since Joe writes better songs than you do, the Copryright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes."
But the Republican pushes back, saying:
"I thought our song was perfectly fine music and I actually don’t think you’re even close to correct on the law. Copyright laws protect expression, they don’t protect ideas. The lyrics for the song were entirely ours, and that included everything that was said in the video, not just sung. … This video is a parody, protected by the Supreme Court."
Hmmmm. Let's see, shall we.
Greg Mitchell at HuffPo tells the tale with a nice anecdote about an early morning James Gang gig back in the day.
I saw Joe play live just once, in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1982 and on his day he's a great, great rock and roll player. His tunes are completely timeless. The first band I ever played in used to cover Joe's "Turn To Stone" after we all saw him play on the Old Grey Whistle Test one night and were blown away; while thirty years later my band at the FT would rock out with a knockout version of his classic "Rocky Mountain Way". Never, ever gets old.
He's always had such a cool sense of humor. He introduces this clip with: "If I knew I'd end up playing this song for the rest of my life, I'd have written something else." And he's no stranger to politics, of course. He ran for President in 1980 on a platform of "free gas for everyone" and a pledge to make his song "Life's Been Good" the new national anthem.
But it sounds like he's not laughing much about having his work appropriated, and who can blame him. Candidate Joe has already got the publicity he wanted and if he were to 'cease and desist' he'd probably get away with having to apologize and take the video down.
Guitar Joe should at least sue him for the price of a new Maserati.
Parody? Copyright violation? Might end up being left to a judge.
You can watch Candidate Joe's version at The New York Times piece, which has the letter from Guitar Joe's lawyer, which says:
"Under that same United States Copyright Act, you’re not allowed to take someone’s song and change the lyrics. This is not to say you’re not allowed to write silly lyrics, you just have to write them to your own music. Now, I know why you used Joe’s music — it’s undoubtedly because it’s a lot better than any music you or your staff could have written. But that’s the point. Since Joe writes better songs than you do, the Copryright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes."
But the Republican pushes back, saying:
"I thought our song was perfectly fine music and I actually don’t think you’re even close to correct on the law. Copyright laws protect expression, they don’t protect ideas. The lyrics for the song were entirely ours, and that included everything that was said in the video, not just sung. … This video is a parody, protected by the Supreme Court."
Hmmmm. Let's see, shall we.
Greg Mitchell at HuffPo tells the tale with a nice anecdote about an early morning James Gang gig back in the day.
I saw Joe play live just once, in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1982 and on his day he's a great, great rock and roll player. His tunes are completely timeless. The first band I ever played in used to cover Joe's "Turn To Stone" after we all saw him play on the Old Grey Whistle Test one night and were blown away; while thirty years later my band at the FT would rock out with a knockout version of his classic "Rocky Mountain Way". Never, ever gets old.
He's always had such a cool sense of humor. He introduces this clip with: "If I knew I'd end up playing this song for the rest of my life, I'd have written something else." And he's no stranger to politics, of course. He ran for President in 1980 on a platform of "free gas for everyone" and a pledge to make his song "Life's Been Good" the new national anthem.
But it sounds like he's not laughing much about having his work appropriated, and who can blame him. Candidate Joe has already got the publicity he wanted and if he were to 'cease and desist' he'd probably get away with having to apologize and take the video down.
Guitar Joe should at least sue him for the price of a new Maserati.
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