Saturday, July 14, 2012

My song to Woody Guthrie: "Got the Saint Augustine, Woody Blues"


The Harder They Come, written by Jamaican singer Jimmy Cliff, performed by Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams, Live, David Letterman Show 2002.



Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues


by Mike Marcellino



First it was my army backpack.

Then

my old yellow T-shirt

with The Lillies on

gone.

The day after

Friday the Thirteenth

they took

my real leather beach shoes

right on your birthday.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


Mike Marcellino performs at Gallery RIVAA on Roosevelt Island in New York City





So, this becomes

your birthday song

from the sand beaches

of the Great Recession

to dust bowls

of the Great Depression.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


"As I went walking I saw a sign there

And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing.'

But on the other side it didn't say nothing,

That side was made for you and me."



So Woody, tell me,

Is this still our land -

"From California to the New York island;

From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters?"


Or is it just a den of greed and thieves?


Did you have to nail stuff down,

back then

on the box car roads to California?

Or, just watch out

gettin' beat up bound for glory?

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


Now, another century

Jammin'

on Roosevelt Island.

Makin' up some songs

on the streets of Cleveland.

Trekking cross country

thumb out all the way.


Nothin' to lose anymore,

except everything

when the trucker fell asleep.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.

Add caption


American folk singing legend Woody Guthrie, born July 14, 1912, Okemah, Oklahoma; died October 3, 1967 in New York City, at age 55 from Huntington's disease


"Nobody living can ever stop me,

As I go walking that freedom highway;

Nobody living can ever make me turn back

This land was made for you and me."



Thanks for the borrowed lines.

They're mighty fine.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


Got the Saint Augustine,Woody Blues by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012



"This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie



"This Is Your Land," Bruce Springsteen, Los Angeles, 1985