Neither Hero nor Myth: Woody Guthrie's Contribution to Folk Art

Author(s): Edwin Cohen

Source: Folklore, Vol. 91, No. 1 (1980), pp. 11-14
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1259814
Accessed: 17-04-2015 22:53 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. and Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Folklore.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 31.220.194.16 on Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:53:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

11

Neither Hero nor Myth: Woody

Guthrie's Contributionto Folk Art
EDWIN COHEN
often folk scholarshipin generaland worksdealingwith Woody
TOO
Guthrie in particular deal with romanticized biography and permit
anecdotesof earthly life to substitute for objective appraisaland study. In their
book AmericanFolk SceneDavid A. DeTurk and A. Poulin, Jr., summarizethis
failure:
Besidescontributingnothingto a fullerunderstanding
of folk musicas an art form, it is also
forthe tastelessmythmaking
thatplaguesthememoryof folkmusic'stoweringfigures,
responsible
especiallyWoodyGuthrie.Everyoneis eagerto talkaboutGuthrietheman,theson,the father,the
rambler;almostno one discussesGuthriethe artist,which, obviously,will be the basis for
Guthrie'sessentialcontribution
to folkmusic...The socialandpoliticalconditionsof
determining
timeandplacemaybe essentialto an intelligentunderstanding
of somefolksongs.Forothersit is
irrelevant.To knowthatGuthriewasableto makesongsout of the sufferingof the Depressionis
mostrelevant;to knowthathe pickedtomatoesis irrelevant.'

We often become embroiled in Woody's politics, his Union activities, and

make moral judgmentsof his life, losing sight of the real issue in evaluatingthe
artist: the contribution of his works. A discussion of these historical and
sociologicalissues is as fruitlessand acriticalas pursuit of the myth of who wrote
Shakespeare's plays: Shakespeare?Marlowe? Bacon? Queen Elizabeth? or
Humpty-Dumpty?It is as irrelevantas discussing Tchaikovsky'shomosexuality
when attemptingto evaluatehis music, or passing moraljudgmenton Van Gogh
in order to assess his contributionto the fine arts. In the final analysisWoody's
contribution must be evaluatedby his songs, poems, Boundfor Glory, and in
relation to his effect on our culture. Any other criteria lead nowhere; instead,
they frequentlyserve to advancethe political or sociologicaltheoriesespousedby
the critic.
John Greenway identifies this trend in his obituary for Woody when he
indicatedthat even prior to Woody's death his legend had alreadytaken on two
polarized masks. One depicts him as the popular folk hero producing 'the
greatestaffirmationof America yet put into song'; the other mask being that of
'Woody Guthrie Hero of the Proletariat.'2Mythmakers, in their attempt to
popularize him, ignore his left-wing leanings and stylize his image as Paul
Bunyan or a Sgt. York with a guitar. They present his relationshipto the social
problems of the thirties and forties in the guise of an optimistic faithhealerin
song. The social polemicistsignore his positive perceptionsof Americaand show
only his denunciationof its inequities and injustices.Each makesa criticallyfatal
mistake:one confuses the work of art with the man: the other confuses the work
of art with the sociology or history that engenderedit.

This content downloaded from 31.220.194.16 on Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:53:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

12

EDWIN COHEN

This is not to say that the man, his works, and the context in which he
produced those works can be divorced and separatedinto neat little packages.
Certainly he was a product of his times, of events, and of a tradition that
preceded him. His works, too, came about because of influences both external
and internal acting upon him. The events and personalitiesof the times were
ephemeral, however, and we must judge his works on their ability to survive
beyond the immediatecauses. Many of his songs have lost their universalappeal.
They have meaning only to a few survivorsof a specific event, or because they
are by a man who producedother, greaterworks. Some of his dust bowl ballads
are now merely curiosity pieces and historical-biographicalrelics. On the other
hand, a song such as 'Union Maid' has transcendedthe narrow events that
inspired it, becoming a song importantnot only to the Union movement, but
also an authentic piece of American folk culture. The same is true of 'Reuben
James,' 'So Long It's Been Good to Know You,' 'Pasturesof Plenty,' 'Roll On
Columbia,' and 'This Land,' to give but a partiallist.
Woody himself acknowledged his debt to the historical events of the
depressionand dust bowl and their influence on him and his music:
Thereon the Texasplainsrightin the deadcenterof the dustbowl,withtheoil boomoverandthe
wheat blowed out and the hard-workingpeople just stumbling about, bothered with mortgages,

debts,bills, sickness,worriesof everyblowingkind,I seen therewas plentyto makeup songs

about.3

Woody's role in the dust bowl, Union movement and Depression has been
chronicledover and over, and there certainlyis no need to reiterateit here. One
importantchangebroughtaboutby the Depression,however,accountsto a great
extent for what might be posited as Woody's greatestcontributionto American
folk culture.
The Depression years altered permanently the face of American folksong
through the unparalleled growth of the radio and recording industries.
Obviously when money is dear, one chooses the least expensive form of entertainment, and radiowas the cheapest-no admission,no transportation,no wear
and tear on 'Sundayclothes,' no baby-sitter.In 1931 two of every five homes had
radios.4 Rural electrificationthrough TVA and the Columbia River projects
brought cheap electricityto homes, and the lowered prices meant that 'a higher
percentageof farms acquired radios, electricity, and running water during the
1930's than in the previous decade'5Concommitantwith the
maturityof radio
was the expansion of the phonograph industry. FrederickLewis Allen claims
that 'the biggest phonographcompanyreportedthat its sales of recordsincreased
600 percent during the five years 1933-38. The phonograph,once threatened
with virtual extinction by the radio, had come into its own again'6These sharp
increases in radio audiences and the sale of radios and phonograph records
altered folksong by developing a vast audience never previously approachedin
size by the folk singer. Traditionallythe balladeersang for a small local audience
that sharedessentiallythe same beliefs, religion, politics, and philosophy. If the
traveling troubadour, let alone the non-traveller,played and sang for a few
thousand people in his life-time, he would have accomplished a great deal.
Woody, on the other hand, as an emerging folk artist in the transitionalperiod,

This content downloaded from 31.220.194.16 on Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:53:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

NEITHERHERONOR MYTH

13

speaksof his dayson radioin Los Angelesby claimingthathe and'LeftyLou'

receivedovertwentythousandlettersduringtheirtwo yearsat KFVD.7Even
allowingforWoody'shyperboleas to the actualnumberof letters,whenwe take
intoaccountthe relativelysmallpercentage
of listenerswhowriteto performers,
we can readilysee that Woodyand 'LeftyLou' must haveplayedto a much
largeraudiencein two yearsthananypre-radiofolksingerhadin a lifetime.
With folk performersappearingon radioand cuttingrecords,royaltiesand
If the composerdid
copyrightsbecamevitallyimportantto the folkperformers.
not copyrightthe songs,someoneelsewould,andthatotherpersonwouldstand
to makelargesums of money.Consequentlynot only did the song become
finalizedon paper,but at the sametime the composerbecameimportantand
well known,representingtwo majorbreachesof traditionalfolk culture.The
Americanfolksongbecauseof these influencesdid one of two things in the
1930'sand 1940's:it becamevirtuallyextinctin all but someof the morerural,
backwardareasof the country;or, it changedits formto accommodate
someof
the aspectsof songpreviouslyreservedforthe popularsong;thatis, it becamea
popularsongwith a folk feelingandfolk sense.If we acceptthe firstpremise,
then WoodyGuthriemust be consideredamongthe last folk singers.If we
acceptthe secondpremise,which is the view preferredby this writer,then
are even moreimportantas the
Woody,and his lesser-known
contemporaries,
transitional
to the popularsphere
agentscarryingthefolksongfromtheparochial
of song. Sincethe Weaversmadethe Hit Paradewith 'Goodnight,Irene'and
'Tzena,'folksongshavebeenan importantaspectof Americanpopularculture.
This then is Woody'sgreatestcontributionto our tradition:he was the first
identifiablefolk composerto achievenationalstatusandpopularity.In partby
accidentof time, he happenedalongwith the propertoolsfor compositionand
with the propersubjectsto write about;consequently,he occupiesa revered
placein folkmusic,thatof the 'father'of modern,well-knownfolksong.
In additionto being fatherto the modernfolksong,Woodyalso fathered,
artistically,a generationof new folk composers.Bob Dylan openlyacknowledgedhis debtto Woody,as did otheryoungcomposerssuchas Tom Paxton:
'The mostimportantthingWoodygaveus wascourage,the courageto standup
andsaythe thingswe believe.'8In additionto the song'GloryBound,'subtitled
'The Storyof WoodyGuthrie,'Phil OchsstatedthatWoody'swork'nowstands
as a modelof techniquefor the new writersthathavetakenoverhis task.He
showedthata folkwriterdoesnot necessarilyhaveto createan entirelyoriginal
workto addto the folkprocess.'19
By being a performerand composerjust at the historicalmomentof the
confluenceof the forcesmentionedbefore,WoodyGuthriebecamethe most
as a folkhero,
importantfigurein folksongin the UnitedStates.His ascendancy
however,is morethana simpleaccidentof chronology.It washe whocanonized
themes, forms, and strategies, and influenced such later composers as Dylan,
Paul Simon, Ochs and Paxton. Other composer-performersof his era dealt with
the Depression, the dust bowl, the World War II, and yet they did not achieve
the prominenceand popularitythat areWoody's. His songs possess a unique and
lasting quality that set them apart from the others: Woody's style. His songs
transcend the events and personalities that he wrote about. He was able to

This content downloaded from 31.220.194.16 on Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:53:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

14

EDWIN COHEN

transforma potentially insular situation such as the Bonneville Project into the
American dream. He, like John Steinbeck, transformedthe dust bowl and the
Okies into a heroic encounter. He took migrant workers and dispossessed
farmersand transformedtheir ramblingsinto a voyage bound for glory. At the
heart of the issue always is his style. 'Style always defies time, and all the
sociology in the world isn't worth a moment of poetry.'0Woody took the prosaic
facts of sociology and through his songs translatedthem into poetry.
Of course, the most importanttest of his contributionto the traditionis yet to
come. At this writing it is barelya decade since his death and approximatelyone
generationsince his peak of productivity.We are still too close to the man and
the historicalevents to be able to judge them with complete objectivity.Whether
he represented the end of the traditional folk artist, was the first of a new
generation of folk artists, was simply a contributer to folk art, or was a
combinationof the three, as both popularizerand creativeartisthe left his mark
on the Americanfolksong, and through the critical span of only one generation,
that markappearsto be indelible.

NOTES
1. David A. DeTurk and A. Poulin, Jr., eds., AmericanFolk Scene(New York, 1967), p.19.
2. John Greenway, 'Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912-1967)', Journal of AmericanFolklore,81
(January-March,1968), pp.62-64.
3. Alan Lomax, compiler, Hard Hitting Songsfor Hard-Hit People(New York, 1967), p.324.
4. Fon W. Boardman,Jr., The Thirties:America and the Great Depression(New York, 1967),
p.43.
5. Samuel Eliot Morison, The OxfordHistory of theAmericanPeople(New York, 1965), p.944.
6. FrederickLewis Allen, Since Yesterday:1929-1939(New York, 1940), p.217.
7. Moses Asch, ed., AmericanFolksong(New York, 1961), p.4.
8. Sis Cunningham, ed., Broadside:Songs of Our Timesfrom the Pages of BroadsideMagazine
Vol. I (New York, 1964), p. 10.
9. Phil Ochs. 'The Guthrie Legacy', Mainstream,August 1963, p.33.
10. Peter Schrag, 'The Age of Willie Mays', SaturdayReview, May 8, 1971, p.43.

This content downloaded from 31.220.194.16 on Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:53:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions