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Born to Win

by Woody Guthrie, Robert Shelton (editor)

4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 · rating details · 29 ratings · 5 reviews

Woody Guthrie is an American legend: a rambling troubadour who made the scene at a hundred historical happenings--the Oklahoma oil boom, the Dust Bowl, the Depression & World War II among them--& made these scenes unforgettable with his songs of praise & protest. 'This Land is Your Land,' 'So Long, It's Been Good to Know You,' 'Hard Traveling,' 'Pretty Boy Floy...more

Hardcover, 1st, 251 pages

Published September 1965 by Macmillan Publishing Company (NY) (first published 1965)

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Apr 19, 2011 Erik Graff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Americans

Recommended to Erik by: Einar Graff

Shelves: art

Thanks to Dad I was brought up with classical and folk music, the latter primarily through the program "The Midnight Special" on WFMT in Chicago. As far back as memory goes, Saturday was the one night of the week when I was allowed to stay up late to listen to the program with Dad, Mom and any guests who were around.

The most precious of these memories are from grandmother's cottage near the SW shore of Lake Michigan. Set on a high ridge among pines and oak, accessible only by winding paths along...more Thanks to Dad I was brought up with classical and folk music, the latter primarily through the program "The Midnight Special" on WFMT in Chicago. As far back as memory goes, Saturday was the one night of the week when I was allowed to stay up late to listen to the program with Dad, Mom and any guests who were around.

The most precious of these memories are from grandmother's cottage near the SW shore of Lake Michigan. Set on a high ridge among pines and oak, accessible only by winding paths along hillsides, the house had been built by her parents and grandparents during WWI, not long after a forest fire, when the land was cheap enough for Norwegian families in Chicago, all friends, to pool their resources for the purchase of several hundred acres along the lakefront. When I was born, the trees had grown, brushing the roof and windows, sussurating in the breeze. Below, a hundred steps, hand-made, to the bluff and beach, flanked by pines planted long before my birth. At night, a light shining down those stairs and bats swooping, mouths agape, the updraft. The only other light, Father's pipe from the wicker chaise in the corner. The only other sounds, showtunes, British comedy routines and folk music, new and traditional--the stuff of "The Midnight Special" from ten p.m. until one in the morning.

Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Carl Sandburg, Pete Seager, the Almanac Singers, the Weavers--all go back to earliest recollection, through childhood and adolescence. Dad was sharing with me, and, later, my brother, what he most enjoyed, connections with his past, with a time his father smoked in that same corner...perhaps his grandfather as well. Dad was giving us roots, roots in our woody hills, roots in our broader culture.

This was the first book, other than a songbook, I ever saw "by" Woody Gurthrie. I snapped it up and read it, remembering idyllic childhood summers, "remembering" an idealized American past of anti-fascist and worker heroes one of whom was, of course, Father.

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Nov 19, 2010 Joel marked it as harry-and-gloria

1965

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Nov 16, 2007 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have never heard a voice like his in anything I have ever read. This guy is total earnestness. Sometimes he makes no sense. His life was really a work of art. His writing was less so.

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Aug 28, 2007 John Nondorf rated it 5 of 5 stars

Stray thoughts, sketches, poems (some that later became songs recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco), and folksy essays from a true national treasure.

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Sep 01, 2008 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

a joy...

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May 19, 2013 Jessica Sue marked it as to-read

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Apr 05, 2013 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

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About Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was an American songwriter and folk musician. Guthrie's musical legacy consists of hundreds of songs, ballads and improvised works covering topics from political themes to traditional songs to children's songs. Guthrie performed continually throughout his life with his guitar frequently displaying the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists". Guthrie is perhaps best know...more

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