"I remember the night he wrote the song "Tom Joad." He said, "Pete, do you know where I can get a typewriter?" I said, "I'm staying with someone who has one." "Well, I got to write a ballad," he said. "I don't usually write ballads to order, but Victor wants me to do a whole album of Dust Bowl songs, and they say they want one about Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath." … Woody had a half-gallon jug of wine with him, sat down and started typing away. He would stand up every few seconds and test out a verse on his guitar and sit down and type some more. About one o'clock my friend and I got so sleepy we couldn't stay awake. In the morning we found Woody curled up on the floor under the table; the half gallon of wine was almost empty and the completed ballad was sitting near the typewriter. And it is one of his masterpieces."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Anti-fascistsPoets from the United StatesSinger-songwriters from the United StatesFolk singersViolinists from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Pete Seeger, in The Incompleat Folksinger (1972), p. 44
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (14 July 1912 – 3 October 1967) was a prolific American folk musician, most famous for his song "This Land Is Your Land" (1940).
31 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Woody Guthrie →
Related Quotes
"Ever'body might be just one big soul, Well it looks that a-way to me. Everywhere that you look, in the day or night, …"
"One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple By the Relief Office I saw my people — As they stood hungry, I …"
"All you can write is what you see."
"THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS."
"I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes I slept on the ground in the light of the moon On the edge of the cit…"
"I'm blowing, and just as wild and whirling as you are, and lots of times I've been picked up, throwed down, and picke…"
"I'm gonna tell all you fascists, you may be surprised People all over this world are getting organized You're bound t…"
"I have hoped as many hopes and dreamed so many dreams, seen them swept aside by weather, and blown away by men, washe…"
"No matter how bad the wicked world has hurt you, in the long run, there is something gained, and it is all for the be…"
"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singi…"