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Woodrow Wilson Guthrie ( July 14 , 1912 – October 3 , 1967 ), known as '''Woody Guthrie''' was an influential and prolific American Folk Musician noted for his identification with the common man, the poor and the downtrodden, and for his abhorrence of fascism and exploitation. He is best known for his song " This Land Is Your Land ". He is also the father of musician Arlo Guthrie . LIFE AND CAREER Guthrie was born in Okemah , Oklahoma , on July 14, 1912. His parents named him after Woodrow Wilson , who was in the same year elected President in the 1912 Election . At age 19, he left home for Texas , where he met and married his first wife, Mary Jennings, with whom he had three children. He used his musical talents to earn money as street musician and doing small gigs. He left Texas and his family with the coming of the Dust Bowl era, following the Okies to California . The poverty he saw on these early trips affected him greatly, and many of his songs are concerned with the conditions faced by the Working Class . He frequently donated money made from his music gigs and busking to help various people's and causes. A lifelong Socialist and Trade Union ist, he also contributed a regular column, "Woody Sez," to the '' Daily Worker '' and '' People's World '' newspapers. In the late for the Library Of Congress , as well as an album, '' Dust Bowl Ballads '', for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey . He began writing his autobiography, ''Bound for Glory,'' which was completed and published in 1943 . In February 1940, Guthrie wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land," which was inspired in part by his experiences during a cross-country trip and in part by his distaste for the Irving Berlin's song " God Bless America ", which he considered unrealistic and complacent (he was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio). The melody may have been based on the gospel song "When the World's on Fire," best known as sung by the country/bluegrass group The Carter Family around 1930. Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verse: In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple; By the relief office, I'd seen my people. As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking, Is this land made for you and me? As I went walking, I saw a sign there, And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing." But on the other side, it didn't say nothing! That side was made for you and me. These verses were sometimes omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself. In May 1941 , Guthrie was commissioned by the Department Of The Interior and its Bonneville Power Administration to write songs about the Columbia River and the building of the federal dams; the best known of these are " Roll On Columbia " and " Grand Coulee Dam ." Around the same time, he joined Pete Seeger in the legendary folk-protest group Almanac Singers , with whom he toured the country and moved into the cooperative Almanac House in Greenwich Village . Guthrie originally wrote and sang anti-war songs with the Almanac Singers, but eventually he and they, along with the Communist milieu with which they were associated, joined the anti- Fascist cause. Guthrie famously wrote the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" on his Guitar . He joined the U.S. Merchant Marine , where he served with fellow folk singer Cisco Houston , and then the U.S. Army . In 1944 , Guthrie met Moses "Moe" Asch of Folkways Records , for whom he first recorded "This Land Is Your Land," along with hundreds of others over the next few years.
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