The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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July 14, 2012

Happy 100th to Woody Guthrie: Celebrate the Dust Bowl troubadour’s lasting legacy

Enid News and Eagle

The red, white and blue Google Doodle on the Fourth of July didn’t honor a traditional American patriot.

Instead, the spontaneous change to the corporation’s logo symbolized a significant cultural treasure with Oklahoma roots. Only this American was blacklisted.

Who is this world-famous icon? It’s none other than Woody Guthrie, a native of Okemah in Okfuskee County. The Google logo incorporated the title of his famous folk anthem “This Land Is Your Land.”

Guthrie was born 100 years ago today in the Oklahoma hills. The seminal protest singer chronicled his life and times traveling westward with migrant workers.

He wrote about the Dust Bowl, Great Depression and other subjects in more than 1,000 songs.

His recordings are archived at the Library of Congress, and Smithsonian Folkways has released a new collection, “Woody at 100.”

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was raised in an agrarian state with the motto “Labor conquers all things.”

In the 1910s, Oklahoma’s socialist vote grew to give the state the nation’s highest membership rate, according to Ed Cray, author of the “Ramblin’ Man” biography on Guthrie.

And then there’s the C-word: communist.

Guthrie was labeled as such — and reportedly associated with communist groups — but friends and family claimed he never joined the Communist Party.

“I ain’t a communist necessarily, but I have been in the red all my life,” Guthrie wrote.

And here’s another famous Guthrie quote: “Left wing, right wing, chicken wing — it’s all the same to me. I sing my songs wherever I can sing ’em.”

Politics aside, one thing is for certain: Guthrie was a World War II veteran, serving in the Merchant Marine and Army.

As a songwriter, Guthrie was prolific and profound. Consider the lyrics to his “Pretty Boy Floyd” tune: “Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.”

We wouldn’t have Bob Dylan without Woody Guthrie. When Bob sought out Guthrie in 1961, Dylan found his inspirational idol debilitated by Huntington’s disease.

Guthrie died in 1967, but his songs remain. So set aside the pop culture memory of learning “This Land Is Your Land” in grade school and consider the song’s pastoral grandeur.

Let’s give thanks to our pastures of plenty and celebrate Guthrie’s lasting cultural legacy.

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