Woody Guthrie Essay -- Biography Biographies

treelike GuthrieWoody Guthrie, born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, was bornin Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912. When he was 16 he began totravel around the United States (Feather 428). He had a not bad(p) love for music and soon began writing his own songsabout the enormous Depression and the treatment of the migrantworkers, who were forced to move west because of the bodyBowl. His music greatly influenced many people across thecountry. However, Woody neer let the fame go to his head. When Woody Guthrie was singing hillbillysongs on a little Los Angeles radio station in the late1930s, he use to mail out a sm wholly mimeographedsongbook to listeners who wanted the words to hissongs, On the bottom page appeared the followingThis song is Copyrighted in U.S., down the stairs Seal ofCopyright 154085, for a period of 28 years, andanybody caught singin it without our permission,will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we dontgive a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing toit. Yodel it. We wrot e it, thats all we wanted todo.(qtd. Pete Seegerwww.geocities.com/Nashville/ 3448/guthrie.html)Woody was very passionate about his causes. He felt verystrongly about the mistreatment of the migrant workers,probably because he was himself an Okie. His worksserved as inspiration for musicians like Bob Dylan and Pete Reeves 2 Seeger and not to mention countless, less-famous others(www.geocities.com/Nashville3448 guthrie.html) ...