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Bound for Glory
First published in 1943, this autobiography is also a superb portrait of America's Depression years, by the folk singer, activist, and man who saw it all.
Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma and traveled this whole country over—not by jet or motorcycle, but by boxcar, thumb, and foot. During the journey of discovery that was his life, he composed and sang words and music that have become a national heritage. His songs, however, are but part of his legacy. Behind him Woody Guthrie left a remarkable autobiography that vividly brings to life both his vibrant personality and a vision of America we cannot afford to let die.
Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma and traveled this whole country over—not by jet or motorcycle, but by boxcar, thumb, and foot. During the journey of discovery that was his life, he composed and sang words and music that have become a national heritage. His songs, however, are but part of his legacy. Behind him Woody Guthrie left a remarkable autobiography that vividly brings to life both his vibrant personality and a vision of America we cannot afford to let die.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
About the author
Woody Guthrie
73 books123 followersWoodrow 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 known for his song "This Land Is Your Land" which is regularly sung in American schools. Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress.
Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. His songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression and are known as the "Dust Bowl Troubadour." Guthrie was associated with, but never a member of, Communist groups in the United States throughout his life.
Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. He is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of the degenerative neurologic affliction known as Huntington's Disease. In spite of his illness, during his later years Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.
Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. His songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression and are known as the "Dust Bowl Troubadour." Guthrie was associated with, but never a member of, Communist groups in the United States throughout his life.
Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. He is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of the degenerative neurologic affliction known as Huntington's Disease. In spite of his illness, during his later years Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.
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February 13, 2012
This partial autobiography was written in 1943 and is an account of Guthrie's life and his reflections on America in the 1930s. The slang is colourful and takes a little getting used to. Parts of this book are brilliant, but there are a lot of gaps.
The first part of the book is about Guthrie's childhood (apart from the first chapter set in the early 40s. It gives a good deal of family background and dynamics, with a mix of loss and tragedy. His mother's bouts of odd and self destructive behaviour are sad when one considers she had Huntington's Chorea, which remained undiagnosed. There are only so many boyhood high jinks one can take and at times it felt like "just William" for the rough and ready. Guthrie's descriptions are sharp and his observation of human nature excellent; he was also aware of what was going on around him. There is a fascinating conversation between a 9 (ish) year old Guthrie and a black woman to whom he was delivering butter: she explains why certain words are inappropriate and how she would prefer to be addressed. He also describes in detail the grinding poverty of the time and how the American poor lived and died.
The second half of the book describes the dustbowl era and Woody on the move using his hands and learning to use the guitar. He again describes the characters he met and makes them come alive, they are so vivid, as are his descriptions of bumming a ride on the railways. The longer the book goes on the more the music takes over.
However there are gaps and the book jumps from the age of 18 to about 24; there is no mention of his wife and three children at all. All the alluring stories of life on the road are set against the wife and kids at home. There is a romantic passage towards the end, which is rather touching, until you remember he is already married. I am not being judgmental because we all like to edit our own stories and we all have flaws. I just found it interesting that he omitted them from his story.
There is an interesting paragraph towards the end when Guthrie talking about singing live with Cisco and he describes his audience;
" stealers, dealers, sidewalk spielers; ... dopers, smokers, boiler stokers; ...saviours, saved and side street singers; ... money men, honey men, sad men, funny men; ramblers, gamblers, highway anklers" and so on.
It reads, and more particularly speaks pure Bob Dylan.
The first part of the book is about Guthrie's childhood (apart from the first chapter set in the early 40s. It gives a good deal of family background and dynamics, with a mix of loss and tragedy. His mother's bouts of odd and self destructive behaviour are sad when one considers she had Huntington's Chorea, which remained undiagnosed. There are only so many boyhood high jinks one can take and at times it felt like "just William" for the rough and ready. Guthrie's descriptions are sharp and his observation of human nature excellent; he was also aware of what was going on around him. There is a fascinating conversation between a 9 (ish) year old Guthrie and a black woman to whom he was delivering butter: she explains why certain words are inappropriate and how she would prefer to be addressed. He also describes in detail the grinding poverty of the time and how the American poor lived and died.
The second half of the book describes the dustbowl era and Woody on the move using his hands and learning to use the guitar. He again describes the characters he met and makes them come alive, they are so vivid, as are his descriptions of bumming a ride on the railways. The longer the book goes on the more the music takes over.
However there are gaps and the book jumps from the age of 18 to about 24; there is no mention of his wife and three children at all. All the alluring stories of life on the road are set against the wife and kids at home. There is a romantic passage towards the end, which is rather touching, until you remember he is already married. I am not being judgmental because we all like to edit our own stories and we all have flaws. I just found it interesting that he omitted them from his story.
There is an interesting paragraph towards the end when Guthrie talking about singing live with Cisco and he describes his audience;
" stealers, dealers, sidewalk spielers; ... dopers, smokers, boiler stokers; ...saviours, saved and side street singers; ... money men, honey men, sad men, funny men; ramblers, gamblers, highway anklers" and so on.
It reads, and more particularly speaks pure Bob Dylan.
February 20, 2024
I ain't got no home I'm just a roman round
just a wondering worker I go from town to town
and the police make it hard wherever I may go
and I ain't got no home in this world anymore
by Woody Guthrie
In 1929 the depression came to America and 23% of men and women were put out of work. In 1930, dust blew up from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. Even Colorado. People who tried to stay died of dust pneumonia , and those who tried to leave the States were often covered in dust and died in the desert.
Men and women and sometimes children took to the roads Looking for work, But they were thrown out of town, often beaten And sometimes sent to a prison camp to work. If you were homeless, you were a criminal. How can that be?
Woody Guthrie's family fell into poverty , and it wasn't long before woody was hitting the road by himself. Sometimes he Found work and at other times he starved. Picking up his guitar and singing in bars he finally found himself. He wrote protest songs and other cutie songs Perhaps the cute songs were just to cheer people up. We could use a few protest songs today.
just a wondering worker I go from town to town
and the police make it hard wherever I may go
and I ain't got no home in this world anymore
by Woody Guthrie
In 1929 the depression came to America and 23% of men and women were put out of work. In 1930, dust blew up from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. Even Colorado. People who tried to stay died of dust pneumonia , and those who tried to leave the States were often covered in dust and died in the desert.
Men and women and sometimes children took to the roads Looking for work, But they were thrown out of town, often beaten And sometimes sent to a prison camp to work. If you were homeless, you were a criminal. How can that be?
Woody Guthrie's family fell into poverty , and it wasn't long before woody was hitting the road by himself. Sometimes he Found work and at other times he starved. Picking up his guitar and singing in bars he finally found himself. He wrote protest songs and other cutie songs Perhaps the cute songs were just to cheer people up. We could use a few protest songs today.
November 7, 2008
For years, I’ve been a Bob Dylan fan and fascinated by Dylan’s biggest inspiration, Woody Guthrie. Dylan biographers, and Dylan himself, often reference Guthrie’s autobiography Bound for Glory. With great pleasure I realized my local library had a copy.
I didn’t know what I was embarking on. The jacket of the book has a quote from the Springfield Republican that reads, “Reading Bound for Glory is an emotional experience far more stirring for some readers at least, than even the penetrating Grapes of Wrath.” Guthrie’s being compared to Steinbeck? Isn’t that sacrilegious? When I usually read obscure books like this, my expectations are low. Boy was I surprised – not only because this is a fantastic work, but also because this work is not more well known or celebrated among literary circles, music circles, or historical circles.
Guthrie’s vivid descriptions transplant the reader back to a time when poverty, grit, hard work and traveling were the norm in this country. He makes the gruff, rough underbelly of America during the early 20th century human and real. Along the way, the reader also becomes endeared to Guthrie, through his experiences and his mild manner.
This story transcends time: the struggle, the camaraderie, the human kindness, and the universal joy of music that makes this country great. It’s a part of our history worth remembering.
I didn’t know what I was embarking on. The jacket of the book has a quote from the Springfield Republican that reads, “Reading Bound for Glory is an emotional experience far more stirring for some readers at least, than even the penetrating Grapes of Wrath.” Guthrie’s being compared to Steinbeck? Isn’t that sacrilegious? When I usually read obscure books like this, my expectations are low. Boy was I surprised – not only because this is a fantastic work, but also because this work is not more well known or celebrated among literary circles, music circles, or historical circles.
Guthrie’s vivid descriptions transplant the reader back to a time when poverty, grit, hard work and traveling were the norm in this country. He makes the gruff, rough underbelly of America during the early 20th century human and real. Along the way, the reader also becomes endeared to Guthrie, through his experiences and his mild manner.
This story transcends time: the struggle, the camaraderie, the human kindness, and the universal joy of music that makes this country great. It’s a part of our history worth remembering.
October 23, 2026
Shortly after I started reading Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory I discovered there was an audiobook narrated by Woody's son Arlo. Being an old fan of Arlo Guthrie, I immediately knew I had to listen to his narration of his father's book. I'm glad I did.
November 21, 2014
I've known of Woody Guthrie all of my life; used to sing This Land Is Your Land around campfires and on hayrides. But until reading this book, I never knew about the man at all. He had a rough life right from the git go, and this book tells us bit by bit about some of the tragedies that shaped the man he became.
He was a working man who bummed around the country, singing songs about the life and the people he saw around him. This book tells about his childhood, his family, his years on the road, his philosophy of life. He would have been someone amazing to sit down and visit with.
I love his poet's eye. Here he is describing his Grandma:'Grey hair commencing to make a stand that had come from hoeing and working a crop of worries for about fifty years.' And this, before a tornado: 'The walnut trees frisked their heads in the air and snorted at the wind getting harder.' Or this, during the tornado: 'Bales of hay splitting apart blew through the sky like pop-corn sacks.....Everything in the world was fighting against everything in the sky.'
My favorite chapter tells about his boyhood gang: his group of friends, 7 or 8 years old like he was at the time. The biggest business for everyone was the buying and selling of stick horses...not to mention the training of them. Imagine a crowd of young cowboys gathered around holding down a wild stick horse until the tamer was ready and called 'Fan 'em!', then everyone stood back and the show was on. The rodeos that must have resulted while half a dozen boys were taming these stick horses all at the same time would have been such fun to see! All those boys out there trying to prove that their stick horse was the 'snuffiest in the whole history of the hill'. And of course the horse brought a better price if the tamer could gentle him down from crazy bucking to paying attention to all the cues and docilely demonstrating his gaits. Those pages were the best ever examples of boys being boys and having fun at it.
He had a rough life and parts of it were not pretty. In fact some sections are disturbing for the cruelty involved and the idea that anyone lived through such scenes, especially a youngster. But he survived, and kept his spirit, and shared it with all of us. Thank you, Woody.
He was a working man who bummed around the country, singing songs about the life and the people he saw around him. This book tells about his childhood, his family, his years on the road, his philosophy of life. He would have been someone amazing to sit down and visit with.
I love his poet's eye. Here he is describing his Grandma:'Grey hair commencing to make a stand that had come from hoeing and working a crop of worries for about fifty years.' And this, before a tornado: 'The walnut trees frisked their heads in the air and snorted at the wind getting harder.' Or this, during the tornado: 'Bales of hay splitting apart blew through the sky like pop-corn sacks.....Everything in the world was fighting against everything in the sky.'
My favorite chapter tells about his boyhood gang: his group of friends, 7 or 8 years old like he was at the time. The biggest business for everyone was the buying and selling of stick horses...not to mention the training of them. Imagine a crowd of young cowboys gathered around holding down a wild stick horse until the tamer was ready and called 'Fan 'em!', then everyone stood back and the show was on. The rodeos that must have resulted while half a dozen boys were taming these stick horses all at the same time would have been such fun to see! All those boys out there trying to prove that their stick horse was the 'snuffiest in the whole history of the hill'. And of course the horse brought a better price if the tamer could gentle him down from crazy bucking to paying attention to all the cues and docilely demonstrating his gaits. Those pages were the best ever examples of boys being boys and having fun at it.
He had a rough life and parts of it were not pretty. In fact some sections are disturbing for the cruelty involved and the idea that anyone lived through such scenes, especially a youngster. But he survived, and kept his spirit, and shared it with all of us. Thank you, Woody.
May 27, 2012
”I made up new words to old tunes, and sung them everywhere I’d go. You sing it out, and it soaks in people’s ears, and they all jump up and down and sing it with you. You can tell tales of all kinds to put your ideas across to the other fellow.
”You’ll hear people sing your words around over the country, and you’ll sing their songs everywhere you travel, and everywhere you live, and these are the only kind of songs my head or my memory or my guitar has got any room for.”
Woody Guthrie was an American original. Folk poet, song writer, guitar picker, sign painter, train jumper, rambler, common man’s philosopher, communist, father to Arlo and muse to Bob Dylan. Bound For Glory is his masterpiece (though far less known than his most famous song, This Land is Your Land). It is memoir (with creative liberties) written in the same Dust Bowl argot as most of his songs. It has a charmingly odd, sing-song cadence that begs to be read aloud. It is also among the best, most authentic documents of the Dust Bowl.
”And there, on the Texas plains, right in the dead center of the Dust Bowl, with the oil boom over, and the wheat blowed out, and the hard working people just stumbling about, bothered with mortgages, debts, sickness, worries of every blowing kind, I seen there was plenty to make up songs about.
Guthrie opens the book on a train, in a boxcar full of hard travelers, singing “This Train is Bound for Glory, This Train!” He then leaps back to his childhood, full of highs and lows and profound loss, before striking out on the road and boxcars traveling back and forth across Depression Era America.
”I set my hat on the back of my head, and walked out west and strolled from town to town, my guitar slung over my shoulder, and sung along the Hoovervilles on the flea-bit rims of your city’s garbage dump. I sung in the camps called Little Mexico on the dirty edge of California’s green pastures. I sung on the gravel barges of the East Coast, and sung with the tars and salts in Port Arthur, the oilers and greasers in Texas City, the marijuana smokers in the flop town in Houston.”
Bound For Glory is Woody actively creating his legend. It covers the years of his greatest activity, and focuses just and only on those things he wished to show us. But what a time, and what a character he created!
”Everywhere I went I throwed my hat down on the floor and sung for my tip. I sung on the radio waves in Los Angeles. And I got a job from Uncle Samuel to come to the valley of the Columbia River, and I made up and recorded 26 songs about the Grand Coulee Dam. I made two albums of records called Dust Bowl Ballads for the Victor people. I hit the road again and cross the continent twice by way of highway and freight. Folks heard me on the nationwide radio programs and thought I was rich and famous, and I didn’t have a nickel to my name when I was hitting the hardway again.”
I first read Bound For Glory nearly 30 years ago, when I was fresh off the road myself. This time around I listened to the audiobook, brilliantly narrated by Arlo Guthrie, Woody’s famous son. I highly recommend experiencing it this way, even though the audio version is abridged.
”Take it easy, but take it.”
”You’ll hear people sing your words around over the country, and you’ll sing their songs everywhere you travel, and everywhere you live, and these are the only kind of songs my head or my memory or my guitar has got any room for.”
Woody Guthrie was an American original. Folk poet, song writer, guitar picker, sign painter, train jumper, rambler, common man’s philosopher, communist, father to Arlo and muse to Bob Dylan. Bound For Glory is his masterpiece (though far less known than his most famous song, This Land is Your Land). It is memoir (with creative liberties) written in the same Dust Bowl argot as most of his songs. It has a charmingly odd, sing-song cadence that begs to be read aloud. It is also among the best, most authentic documents of the Dust Bowl.
”And there, on the Texas plains, right in the dead center of the Dust Bowl, with the oil boom over, and the wheat blowed out, and the hard working people just stumbling about, bothered with mortgages, debts, sickness, worries of every blowing kind, I seen there was plenty to make up songs about.
Guthrie opens the book on a train, in a boxcar full of hard travelers, singing “This Train is Bound for Glory, This Train!” He then leaps back to his childhood, full of highs and lows and profound loss, before striking out on the road and boxcars traveling back and forth across Depression Era America.
”I set my hat on the back of my head, and walked out west and strolled from town to town, my guitar slung over my shoulder, and sung along the Hoovervilles on the flea-bit rims of your city’s garbage dump. I sung in the camps called Little Mexico on the dirty edge of California’s green pastures. I sung on the gravel barges of the East Coast, and sung with the tars and salts in Port Arthur, the oilers and greasers in Texas City, the marijuana smokers in the flop town in Houston.”
Bound For Glory is Woody actively creating his legend. It covers the years of his greatest activity, and focuses just and only on those things he wished to show us. But what a time, and what a character he created!
”Everywhere I went I throwed my hat down on the floor and sung for my tip. I sung on the radio waves in Los Angeles. And I got a job from Uncle Samuel to come to the valley of the Columbia River, and I made up and recorded 26 songs about the Grand Coulee Dam. I made two albums of records called Dust Bowl Ballads for the Victor people. I hit the road again and cross the continent twice by way of highway and freight. Folks heard me on the nationwide radio programs and thought I was rich and famous, and I didn’t have a nickel to my name when I was hitting the hardway again.”
I first read Bound For Glory nearly 30 years ago, when I was fresh off the road myself. This time around I listened to the audiobook, brilliantly narrated by Arlo Guthrie, Woody’s famous son. I highly recommend experiencing it this way, even though the audio version is abridged.
”Take it easy, but take it.”
April 14, 2010
I had no idea what to expect with this book. I wasn't really looking forward to reading it. Boy was I wrong. I loved it. It is not the usual boring biography, he is simply telling stories, in his own unique way. His stories made me think, what would I have done in the same situation. Could I have rode in the box car, waited to pick the apricots, saw my sister burned to death and kept going. Could I take a beating on the dead main street and still manage to keep going? Could I have suffered so much and still been able to see the country in all its beauty or would I become hard and mean. My knowledge of Woody was VERY limited to some songs and of course his son Arlo in "Alice's Restaurant". It shed a whole new light upon the man and I am happy for gaining a new perspective. I really enjoyed reading this and would recommend it anyone simply looking to expand their world by shedding a little light into a life so very different from your own.
February 24, 2008
How can people really write like THIS when I can barely scratch out a little review here? Damn. There's not much music in here until the end, but his story itself reads as this jaw-dropping rambling epic earthy American folk ballad.
The back of my crumbling 1970 mass market edition quotes the following review. I will just nod vigorously:
"Even readers who never heard Woody or his songs will understand the current esteem in which he is held after reading just a few pages... always shockingly immediate and real, as if Woody were telling it out loud... A book to make novelists and sociologists jealous." - The Nation
---
I'm two chapters in and he's got more wild stories about any old day of his life than I do about the whole thing. Lord!
The back of my crumbling 1970 mass market edition quotes the following review. I will just nod vigorously:
"Even readers who never heard Woody or his songs will understand the current esteem in which he is held after reading just a few pages... always shockingly immediate and real, as if Woody were telling it out loud... A book to make novelists and sociologists jealous." - The Nation
---
I'm two chapters in and he's got more wild stories about any old day of his life than I do about the whole thing. Lord!
August 20, 2026
The real question is: Tom Holland or Timmy Chalet as Woody in the biopic?
November 12, 2017
This book was quite different from anything I usually read. (It was assigned for school - otherwise, I would never have read it.)
What I liked:
1. It successfully captures the Great Depression/Dust Bowl era of America and how tough life was for people back then.
2. It seemed honest and frank, not put on or embellished (beyond what his memory could provide, of course).
What I did not like:
1. The timeline jumped forward without much warning, which confused me because I couldn't keep track of his age or what year it was. Also, he never even mentioned how or why he decided to pick up the guitar and start playing and singing.
2. THE SCENE WITH THE CATS. Seriously, why was this included in the book?? To make me suffer? To make me cry? It was gruesome and cruel af. I did NOT need to read such an effed up scene - so I skipped it. Very heartbreaking and disgusting.
3. The dialogue was beyond grueling; I had such a difficult time interpreting the backwoods-style Oklahoman dialect/accent that it significantly slowed my reading pace down.
4. The story never really seemed to go anywhere; it was just his recollection of events and conversations mashed into one book. There was little point to the whole thing, in my opinion.
5. The ending wasn't very satisfying. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't that - very abrupt.
As you can see, the dislikes far outweigh the likes...
Food for thought: Is it me, or was his mother a pyromaniac?
What I liked:
1. It successfully captures the Great Depression/Dust Bowl era of America and how tough life was for people back then.
2. It seemed honest and frank, not put on or embellished (beyond what his memory could provide, of course).
What I did not like:
1. The timeline jumped forward without much warning, which confused me because I couldn't keep track of his age or what year it was. Also, he never even mentioned how or why he decided to pick up the guitar and start playing and singing.
2. THE SCENE WITH THE CATS. Seriously, why was this included in the book?? To make me suffer? To make me cry? It was gruesome and cruel af. I did NOT need to read such an effed up scene - so I skipped it. Very heartbreaking and disgusting.
3. The dialogue was beyond grueling; I had such a difficult time interpreting the backwoods-style Oklahoman dialect/accent that it significantly slowed my reading pace down.
4. The story never really seemed to go anywhere; it was just his recollection of events and conversations mashed into one book. There was little point to the whole thing, in my opinion.
5. The ending wasn't very satisfying. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't that - very abrupt.
As you can see, the dislikes far outweigh the likes...
Food for thought: Is it me, or was his mother a pyromaniac?
May 30, 2019
As a Bob Dylan fan, I wanted to love this. I read the whole thing hoping it would get better, and it did for short segments, but there was plenty of room in between. Guthrie was an amazing individual who road the rails for the life of it, and for that I gave this one more star that I would have otherwise. Possibly, I was lost on the dialect, and I think he should have discussed writing and literature more, but something was missing...
December 3, 2021
Autobiography of Woody Guthrie read by his son Arlo. There are several musical selections in the book performed by Woody himself. He was a national treasure, and it was a delight to listen to his story!
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September 28, 2013Loved this - the stories were like so many songs I know and the drawings were exellent.
September 29, 2024
L'anello di congiunzione tra furore di Steinbeck e on the road di kerouac...
April 14, 2010
Bob Dylan's music turned me on to Woody Guthrie. When I heard about Dylan's love of Bound For Glory, I had to read the book for myself. In fact I read anything that may have inspired Dylan, since he is my inspiration. I remember singing “This Land is Your Land” in grade school, not knowing anything then about Woody.
His story begins as a young boy and his years at home with his mother. Then he takes the reader on his adventures riding the rails and singing his songs. It is tragic how his sister dies of burns and later when his mother burns the house down. It's like fire tragedy followed him throughout his life. I've read another book, Seeds of Man, about one of Woody's adventures which includes information about another “accidental” fire that leaves his father suffering from extensive burns. In Ramblin' Man The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, more details of Woody's life tell of his daughter's death due to fire.
His songs are reflections of America and the common man. His stories are heartfelt and entertaining. I can see why Dylan admires him so much. In Bob Dylan's poem, Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie, he says, “And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin' …. You can either go to the church of your choice, or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital. You'll find God in the church of your choice. You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital.”
It might be assumed that Bob is comparing Woody to God … but I believe in Woody there was always hope. Hope that even though life comes with hardships, there is beauty from ashes.
His story begins as a young boy and his years at home with his mother. Then he takes the reader on his adventures riding the rails and singing his songs. It is tragic how his sister dies of burns and later when his mother burns the house down. It's like fire tragedy followed him throughout his life. I've read another book, Seeds of Man, about one of Woody's adventures which includes information about another “accidental” fire that leaves his father suffering from extensive burns. In Ramblin' Man The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, more details of Woody's life tell of his daughter's death due to fire.
His songs are reflections of America and the common man. His stories are heartfelt and entertaining. I can see why Dylan admires him so much. In Bob Dylan's poem, Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie, he says, “And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin' …. You can either go to the church of your choice, or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital. You'll find God in the church of your choice. You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital.”
It might be assumed that Bob is comparing Woody to God … but I believe in Woody there was always hope. Hope that even though life comes with hardships, there is beauty from ashes.
April 14, 2020
Un libro eccezionale, un "Furore" visto non dal punto di vista di un colto Steinbeck, ma da quello di un autentico Tom Joad. Non mi aspettavo di meno dall'autobiografia romanzata che ha segnato così profondamente la vita e la poetica di Bob Dylan.
Per approfondimenti:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nae5s...
Per approfondimenti:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nae5s...
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January 5, 2024"Maybe these boys are a little wild and wooly. You've got to be to work like we work, an' travel like we travel, an' live like we live!"
Most American children grow up singing "This Land Is Your Land", so it was fascinating to read the memoir from its singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, often called the father of American folk music.
An inspiration to later singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Judy Collins, Guthrie paints a picture of life before, during, and after the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Especially interesting are his accounts of life in an oil boom town, his mother's "insanity", and his experiences as a transitory worker on the long road west to California.
There are obvious gaps here; Guthrie neglects to mention his wife and three children he left behind on his travels, for example. I was also surprised how little focus there was on music.
But overall, this was an interesting glimpse into a specific subset of American life in the 1910s-30s—and into the mind of one of America's most influential folk singer-songwriters.
Most American children grow up singing "This Land Is Your Land", so it was fascinating to read the memoir from its singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, often called the father of American folk music.
An inspiration to later singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Judy Collins, Guthrie paints a picture of life before, during, and after the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Especially interesting are his accounts of life in an oil boom town, his mother's "insanity", and his experiences as a transitory worker on the long road west to California.
There are obvious gaps here; Guthrie neglects to mention his wife and three children he left behind on his travels, for example. I was also surprised how little focus there was on music.
But overall, this was an interesting glimpse into a specific subset of American life in the 1910s-30s—and into the mind of one of America's most influential folk singer-songwriters.
September 24, 2020
I read once that Bob Dylan stated that this book was more influential to him than "On the Road." I've been listening to Woody's lyrics for more than half my life, thanks to the Mermaid Avenue albums and as a result of listening to those albums for the past 20+ years, those lyrics have bled into my life's philosophy. I know that Woody is one reason I try to speak up for the downtrodden and voiceless. I finally decided to read it and picked the audio book with Arlo Guthrie reading the book. I had a hard time getting into the first chapter, but once Woody started talking about his childhood, I was entranced.
Growing up in the oil field, Woody's description of the oil field in Oklahoma resonated to me. In fact, Woody made many of the same observations about oil that I have, 50 years before I made mine.
Hearing Woody describing his mother's Huntington's Disease is heartbreaking. That disease has to be one of the worst.
The section where he finds love is powerful. Tender and the self introspection isn't surprising, but touching and bitter sweet.
Arlo's voice is great. I find it interesting and appropriate that he doesn't do voices of the African Americans (Woody writes intonations and dialects in the book). Arlo also makes me want to listen to the classic, "Alice's Diner."
Growing up in the oil field, Woody's description of the oil field in Oklahoma resonated to me. In fact, Woody made many of the same observations about oil that I have, 50 years before I made mine.
Hearing Woody describing his mother's Huntington's Disease is heartbreaking. That disease has to be one of the worst.
The section where he finds love is powerful. Tender and the self introspection isn't surprising, but touching and bitter sweet.
Arlo's voice is great. I find it interesting and appropriate that he doesn't do voices of the African Americans (Woody writes intonations and dialects in the book). Arlo also makes me want to listen to the classic, "Alice's Diner."
May 5, 2012
A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or it could be
who's hungry and where their mouth is or
who's out of work and where the job is or
who's broke and where the money is or
who's carrying a gun and where the peace is. - WG
Anytime is a good time to read 'Bound for Glory'. First published back in 1943, Woody's biography remains one of the essential works in the poptastic genre. In 2012, Woody Guthrie's Centennial Year, B.F.G. is still a classic of twentieth century American folk music.
If I have read this previously, it was decades ago. I already know the outline of Guthrie's life, yet the book is fresh and vivid. Described as 'one of the patron saints of American rebelliousness'
Guthrie's life is lived in Steinbeck or Kerouac fiction. A biography that rattles along the tracks with freight train bums, migrant workers, tramps and dust bowl refugees. An iconic image that has cast a long shadow, from Woody to Dylan and extending on to the 'singer-songwriters' of today.
who's hungry and where their mouth is or
who's out of work and where the job is or
who's broke and where the money is or
who's carrying a gun and where the peace is. - WG
Anytime is a good time to read 'Bound for Glory'. First published back in 1943, Woody's biography remains one of the essential works in the poptastic genre. In 2012, Woody Guthrie's Centennial Year, B.F.G. is still a classic of twentieth century American folk music.
If I have read this previously, it was decades ago. I already know the outline of Guthrie's life, yet the book is fresh and vivid. Described as 'one of the patron saints of American rebelliousness'
Guthrie's life is lived in Steinbeck or Kerouac fiction. A biography that rattles along the tracks with freight train bums, migrant workers, tramps and dust bowl refugees. An iconic image that has cast a long shadow, from Woody to Dylan and extending on to the 'singer-songwriters' of today.
August 21, 2012
This is probably one of the most inspiring books by a musician I've ever read.
Woody lived a hard travelling life during the great depression, writing songs that reflected the life he was living and the plight of his people.
They were the poor migrating farm workers from all the Dust Bowl states that moved west following the terrible ecological disaster that hit the region during the 1930's. Steinbeck would have loved to have invented Woody Guthrie, only Woody got there first.
Woody was real American folk hero and the book is brim full of his great enduring spirit.
Woody lived a hard travelling life during the great depression, writing songs that reflected the life he was living and the plight of his people.
They were the poor migrating farm workers from all the Dust Bowl states that moved west following the terrible ecological disaster that hit the region during the 1930's. Steinbeck would have loved to have invented Woody Guthrie, only Woody got there first.
Woody was real American folk hero and the book is brim full of his great enduring spirit.
November 14, 2024
I enjoyed this for what it is, but Woody Guthrie was much more interested in writing about his childhood than he was about the music and politics that make him interesting in the first place. I could still enjoy it as a portrait of Oklahoma life in the 1910s and 20s, but it's frustrating when you finally get to the period where he's making music and the entire writing and recording of Dust Bowl Ballads is covered in about two sentences.
Also, it feels mean to be dismissive of this because it actually happened and it's not his fault that it doesn't conform to the standards of good storytelling, but his family home gets destroyed about three seperate times and at some point you just want things to stop getting set on fire.
Also, it feels mean to be dismissive of this because it actually happened and it's not his fault that it doesn't conform to the standards of good storytelling, but his family home gets destroyed about three seperate times and at some point you just want things to stop getting set on fire.
October 24, 2014
Startling, fresh, and also quite alien--something from a completely different era, particularly when compared with most memoirs written today. Guthrie lost a sister in a fire in which his family also lost all of their possessions, his father left home when he was twelve, he was raised by a brother after his mother was institutionalized for mental problems, and after all this, Guthrie still writes compassionately about them all. Part of the weird alien nature of this book is how family members disappear casually from Guthrie's life. All of these events are narrated as if family disappearing is a matter of course, and maybe it was, for people who had lost everything, even their will to love one another, and who needed to move to wherever they could find sustenance and shelter. I listened to the book as narrated by Arlo Guthrie, and this added to my experience--the words on the page were extremely difficult to parse for me, given the dialect it is written in, and I never would have made my way through it except by listening to the audiobook.
April 13, 2011
I have an old paperback version of this book. It has some of Woody's drawings in it. The words in the book seem to be ghostwritten at some points, I don't know for sure if they are or are not, but the drawings really make Woody seem tangible while you read his autobiography. It is, of course, not Woody's complete story, but it is a good story that he told. (There is no mention of him leaving his wife and children behind to go on all those adventures). Mostly, his story focuses on the earlier part of his life--when his sister, Clara, died in the fire and his mother was institutionalized, and culminates with the farm worker protests era. I don't think it goes into his Grand Coulee Dam time frame--but it has been awhile since I read it. It certainly doesn't go into any of the time when Woody started to get sick with Huntington's disease. The book was made into a movie starring David Carradine, which is pretty good, but not great. A great story told by a great man.
January 10, 2011
Oh please: I grew up on Woody (from my parents) and then Arlo (my time). This book was in the house I grew up in (actually, apartment but you know what I mean). I used it to build home for my dolls before I was old enough to read it; I read it before I was old enough to understand it (8? 9? years old-in those days, we couldn't afford that many books and I read whatever I could). I always loved it-my father had a story about when he met Woody, in the kitchen of some activist or another and I guess I'll always love it. How can I review it? Just, read it, ok? It's a document of our country, our history, our heritage, and our lives.
March 20, 2011
I first read this book when I was in my last year of high school, many years ago. Woody Guthrie was my hero then, and he still is. This book is a great road book, but that is perhaps 1/100th of why the man is my hero. Woody spoke for the people, the real people, - disenfranchised, broken up, busted down - the man/woman who has no idea where his next meal is coming from, let alone where in the hell he's going to sleep that night.
August 29, 2008
I really like Woody Guthrie but I think I hate this book.
March 4, 2013
Unreadable and rambling to the point of borderline incoherence.
December 29, 2023
Finally finished this book! It was the first book I bought in Milwaukee! I love Woody and I think he lived such a fascinating life. The way he write was a little confusing for me at times, especially in parts where the book tended to drag, but as one of the greatest folk poets he does not disappoint! A lot of the descriptions are very vivid and striking. Overall, it was such a fun read and I would recommend it to any folkie looking to learn more about the original folksinger and Bobby Dylan’s idol!
September 5, 2018
If I had read this in my 20's it would have been my bible: the ramblin' man. It took me a very long time to read this as it was pretty slow and boring (but not at all boring because I loved it). Truly a brilliant person and a prophet was Woody. I cherish his words.
November 14, 2025
Really enjoyed this - Woody Guthrie writes so well. Ig this is also where lived experience comes into it cos his Southern dialogue feels so much more natural than someone like Steinbeck’s.
He’s a great story teller even if he has a tendency to make his childhood self implausibly heroic/insightful lol
He’s a great story teller even if he has a tendency to make his childhood self implausibly heroic/insightful lol
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