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Monday, July 12. 2010Arlo dons the white hat
Psst! Did you hear? Arlo Guthrie, lefty hatemonger extraordinaire, has become a (gasp!) Republican. Doc's List of Great Lefty Hatemongers:
Great hatemongers, all. But now that Arlo is officially one of the good guys, we'll allow him to preach his virulent, scathing, anti-war screed to the world. God help the ears of any poor recruiting sergeant should someone actually walk in and pull off such a stunt. It sounds a bit cruel to say, but most people don't sing very well. For another Guthrie tune (and me seriously screwing with your head when it comes to his politics), please... Pictured: Former lefty hatemonger Arlo Guthrie hanging out with other (apparent) lefty hatemongers
(I'm sure glad nobody we know plays any of their hateful songs!) Please remember that you're subject to propaganda machines from both the Left and the Right. And while it's in both sides' ideological interest to portray events back in the 60's and 70's as having the same us-them flavor that times have today, such is far from the truth. They'll portray someone like Arlo as a "Lefty" because he wrote an anti-war song or two (really scathing stuff, like the above), conveniently disregarding his songs about romance, heartbreak, motorcycles, life on the road, and the sad, slow disappearance of America's past.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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A delight to hear the whole darn silly thing again. That's not an anti-war "song." It's a stoned song.
Tell it to the first flabbergasted recruiter when this post actually inspires somebody to do it.
"Alice's WHAT?" "I dunno, Sarge!" "Call the captain! This sounds like a movement!" Merc,
"The Village Restaurant" is what it was named, when I had breakfast there in 19-oh-78. Pews 'n everything. Haven't been through Stockbridge in some time. Officer "Obie" followed my VW Beetle around town, probably thinking he was stopping another Canuck invasion! In May 1989, on my way to Boston to get hitched, the future (and now current) bride, and me, stopped in Stockbridge for a bite and a stroll. To my right sat "Obie". Cost me a beer for an autograph. Thanx for dusting off a good memory. Will try to dig up the autograph and the picture. Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer? Whoa OH... Com.ing.in.to.Los.An.ge.les He was a travelling man for sure That's what it was. I had the funniest feeling rolling around the back of my head while slapping together the post that I was missing some popular song he'd done. Cool song, too. They called that "the western sound" at the time. The monotonal singing, the chord structure, the beat. 'America' and The Eagles were in the same genre.
Good catch on your part. I thought he was moving in this direction. About 15 years ago, I heard him give a concert, where he made really witty fun of how we were supposed to give our children "self esteem." Can't remember what he said, it was between-song patter, but it was definitely making fun of standard leftist drivel. Good guy.
City of New Orleans was composed by the inimitable Steve Goodman - Guthrie recorded it, but let's put the credit for a song about the "the sad, slow disappearance of America's past" where it belongs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_New_Orleans_(song) Writers (of all kinds) don't get enough credit. He's still another damned dirty hippie folksinger. I suppose a late arrival at sanity is better than none at all, but a man who couldn't be bothered to support the struggle against Communism back in the 1960s is a man who is fundamentally unserious.
His father, Woody, was a communist. He was raised in that environment. He was surrounded by left wingers in the business. Sometimes it takes a while to figure things out.
I was almost born on the Panama Limited (from New Orleans to Chicago; the City of New Orleans was the opposite trip) and since nobody's going to write a song about the Panama Limited, I have a special fondness for The City of New Orleans - I just wish Arlo wouldn't pronounce it "New Orleeens". Having said that I think Arlo's version has the most emotion and is by far my favorite (Sorry, RP. I'm listing to your post right now).
I had heard several months ago that he is now a Republican. He's not MY kind of Republican (in that I disagree with some of his stands), but I still welcome him. As for his activities in the '60s, I suppose anybody can be stupid (I sure was back then) and the fact that he's apparently changed his mind on some fundamental beliefs speaks highly of him. Trimegistus, would you still disparage David Horowitz? The fact that he WAS a communist and radical and is NOW a strong conservative makes a very strong statement in my mind. Jim Jim G,
Actually Bukka White wrote "Panama Limited" in 1930. Here's a Tom Rush version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0JrQ8Hxi1A Enjoy! Thanks Garry! That was really good (even if he got the direction backwards!). Whoda thunk! Nice slide guitar.
Jim That was definitely cool. Great catch, Garry.
Merc & Jim G.,
This is a better clip. Shud have sent this one along. Still travellin' backwards, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdOToAXo5WQ Here's Mr. White! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSHy_Kc4n30 Enjoy. The Canuck Thanks again for the links, Garry! Bukka was a lost treasure. Too many of those old guys died without the recognition they deserved.
Jim Jim G.,
Heard of Robert Johnson? Another lost treasure. The Canuck |