John Mellencamp Community

John Mellencamp’s Poetic Tribute to Woody Guthrie

In this week’s Arts & Leisure section, Larry Rohter writes about “Woody at 100,” a new collection released on Tuesday. The 3-CD set commemorates the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth on July 14.

John Mellencamp, a fan of Guthrie’s since his childhood in Indiana, has recorded Guthrie compositions like “Do Re Mi” and “Johnny Hart.” For the 100th anniversary of Guthrie’s birth Mr. Mellencamp has written this poem as a tribute:

    You know there’s a certain kind of individual

    Who always takes the rough side

    The side that nobody else wants to take

    Most folks are content to take the path of least resistance

    To sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by

    And yell obscenities from the dark

    Not this bird

    He has no desire to take the easy way out

    He sees the world through a long lens

    And through that lens he knows

    How out of kilter this place really is

    He has no desire for riches

    For ass-kissing, for fitting in

    Or being at the right place at the right time

    No, for him it’s just the opposite

    Quite the contrary

    It seems like he’s always in the wrong place

    At the wrong time

    He knows the world is full of hypocrisy

    And is hyper aware of his own

    This bird is not afraid to fight

    To love

    To get so far out there in the bones

    That it would hurt our feet just to walk down his highway

    But this bird soars wings on

    This bird keeps us on guard

    And honest

    As the rest of us can be

    This bird don’t mind volunteering

    Is not afraid to lose

    Is too moral to be a whore

    And too honest to steal

    But cares enough to write it all down in song ….

    This bird is Woody Guthrie

    And he dares you to fill his footprint

    And so do I

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/john-mellencamps-poetic-tribute-to-woody-guthrie/

That is a very nice tribute to Woody. Hard shoes to follow, but I think John is doing an awesome job too.
Also I notice on that link that Johnny Depp is helping with a Woody Guthrie novel to arrive in 2013. That should be cool.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/with-johnny-depps-help-woody-guthrie-novel-to-arrive-in-2013/

Great poem, good post! Thanks for this.