Mark Allan Jackson’s Prophet Singer: The Voice & Vision of Woody Guthrie is an impressive addition to extant scholarship on North America’s famous folk icon, both for its thorough treatment of the material and for its insightful tackling of specific issues. As stated in the preface, the express purpose is to “[look] deeply into his songs, trying to trace their creation, meaning, and significance.” More than a sweeping overview--though certainly Jackson’s coverage is comprehensive--Singer is primarily concerned with the historical moments encapsulated in each lyric, with “specifically discussing how Guthrie’s personal history and his era’s cultural and political realities have directly inspired and shaped his lyrics” (9). In this respect, the book is highly successful.
The first chapter tackles the issue of song ownership and appropriation, both individual and collective, through Guthrie’s most famous composition, “This Land is Your Land.” Using the populist anthem as a central trope, Jackson situates it in within the larger context of popular history: comparing it to other “national anthems,” tracing its propagation through oral tradition, its sundry appearances in textbooks, cover versions and parodies, its co-option by Ford Motor Company and American Airlines, its role in early 60s protest music, and more. He cites many provocative examples, such as when the song was sung following George McGovern’s “Come Home, America” acceptance speech at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, or when Sioux Indian Henry Crowdog interpreted Pete Seeger’s rendition of the song as promoting nationalist sentiment. Jackson addresses the squelching of Guthrie’s original fourth verse, which ran: “Was a great high wall there that tried to stop me/A sign was painted said: Private Property/But on the back side it didn’t say nothing…”, a radical sentiment openly contesting exclusive ownership; as well as the song’s final verse describing a line of poor people in front of the welfare office, concluding, “As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if/God blessed America for me,” an open-eyed acknowledgement of the dark side of the American dream. These little-known protest verses, argues Jackson, should be brought back into the public eye for a candid reappraisal of the original intentions of the song, and what meanings it may hold for us when we sing it today.
The next topic is Guthrie’s lyrics about Dust Bowl farmers and other agricultural workers. This chapter does a fine job of providing detailed historical information on Guthrie’s immediate circumstances, as well as topical political, economic, and social factors (e.g., sharecropping and tenant farming, mechanization, drought, The Great Depression, California immigrant legislation, Hooversville worker camps, etc.), and then proceeds to treat the lyrics of individual songs, including “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You,” “Dust Storm Disaster,” “I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore,” “Talking Dust Bowl,” “Do Re Mi,” “Dust Bowl Refugee,” and “Hooversville,” offering detailed analyses of how these songs speak of and for their times. Here and throughout the book Jackson adroitly augments his analyses of lyric content with a wealth of supplementary sources, including writings from Guthrie’s notebook, journal entries, excerpts from his People’s World newspaper column “Woody Sez,” comments made on his radio show, quotations from his autobiographies and other sources, postscripts written for songs in published editions, alternative verses and variant versions (both written and recorded) and, finally, commentary from other scholars.
The following chapter deals with songs about other workers and their troubles, again marrying historical contextualization to specific examples from the repertoire to evoke and illustrate larger points. Here Jackson delves more deeply into class issues, strikes, violence, natural disasters, and Guthrie’s rhetorical style; he suggests that while Guthrie was extremely empathetic to working-class people, his descriptions of historical events are subject to inaccuracies due to lack of personal experience in these areas--at least when compared to his first-hand knowledge of “Okies”--and his reliance on second-hand sources such as newspaper articles.
“Skin Trouble” documents Guthrie’s attitudes and approach towards racial issues, and doesn’t flinch from noting his early racial stereotypes, as evidenced by comments made over the radio and in song lyrics, and notes that his father witnessed a lynching. Apparently Guthrie became aware of his own prejudices when a young black student chastised him for using the n-word, and was further sensitized to racism through his association with progressively minded leftists and close friendships with black folk blues artists such as Lead Belly, Brownie McGhee, and Sonny Terry. The chapter also examines issues of racism in the Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican communities, as well as discrimination faced by white Okies when they immigrated into California in droves. Using specific examples from “A Tale a Feller Told Me” (on slavery), “The Ferguson Brothers Killing” (an infamous hate crime), “Slipknot” (about a lynching), and “Death Row” (criticizing legally sanctioned executions), Jackson argues that Guthrie’s treatment of these topics served to heighten public awareness of social injustices, thereby setting the stage for progress and change.
Chapter 5 gathers Guthrie’s songs of latter-day Robin Hoods who rebel against the status quo, considering figures as diverse as The Dalton Boys, Belle Starr, Jesse James, Pretty Boy Floyd, Tom Joad, Harriet Tubman, and Jesus Christ. Jackson depicts Guthrie’s early efforts along these lines as an outgrowth of the British ballad tradition, but notes how the heroes and villains of his lyrics took on new identities as the songwriter’s views evolved over time, eventually replacing Western gunslingers with bankers and others who enforce the status quo in order to preserve unfair advantages.
The last chapter, “That Union Feeling,” is a powerful closer, repeating strengths of earlier sections: a comprehensive overview (including a thorough study of unionizing movements) and insightful specific analyses of lyrics. A number of interesting issues arise: Guthrie’s apparent sexism and relative silence on women’s rights, his association with the Almanac Singers and other pro-union activists, the changing ethics of the CIO, the effect of the Wagner and Taft-Hartley Acts on workers’ organizations, and Americans’ ambivalence towards union strikes during wartime. Interestingly, Jackson suggests that over time the cause of unionism became almost a religion for Guthrie, a means to a “future when the unity of all people is achieved” (244).
In the epilogue, Jackson details Guthrie’s continuing legacy in and influence on the current generation, and the timelessness of his message. He notes the work of artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against the Machine, Steve Earle, and Billy Bragg, and mentions continuing social problems addressed by Guthrie’s songs: James Byrd, Jr.’s racially motivated murder in Jasper, TX, Pat Buchanan’s anti-immigrant statements, and California’s anti-migrant welfare laws. Perhaps a better title for this book would be Protest Singer--more than prophesying a halcyon future of human unity, Guthrie dealt with the here and now, bravely reporting the many injustices suffered and endured by his folk.
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[Review length: 1127 words • Review posted on March 5, 2008]