With the recent release of the Timothée Chalamet-starring Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (soon to premiere in the UK), renewed interest has been expressed in Dylan's idol: folk music legend Woody Guthrie and the influence the political firebrand had on Dylan's own songwriting.
Much like Dylan after him, Woody Guthrie's songwriting was highly politically charged, and orbited themes of socialism and personal liberation in the face of the growth of capitalism and various forms of facism. Songs such as This Land Is Your Land and Tear the Facists Down still resonate strongly to this day.
Between 1944 and 1945, as part of a short radio show on New York's WNEW radio station, Guthrie introduced his 15-minute segment with a lengthy manifesto. This firmly hammered home what Woody was opposed to when it came to songwriting. The full quote is as follows:
"I hate a song that makes you think you’re not any good. I hate a song makes you think you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing.
Songs that run you down or songs that poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or your hard traveling.
"I am out to fight those kind of songs to my very last breath of air and my very last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that’ll prove to you that this is your world and that if it’s hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter how hard it’s run you down or rolled over you, no matter what colour, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work."
