Absolutely amazing version of this tune. As a person who calls the subject of this tune "neighbor" and "friend", this one hits close to home. Have to agree with Dirk and say that the images need to be more focused on braceros to really bring the video home- the rendition however is without fault- it is stunning.
Thanks for your comment and I hope I have addressed the point regarding my use of
images not associated with the disaster.
Before recording the song I listen to many different versions and did extensive research
into the background of the song and here are a few points I would like to make.
1) Why did Guthrie write the song
In actual fact it was originally a poem
, and
*a decade later, Guthrie's poem was set to
music by a schoolteacher named Martin Hoffman.*Guthrie had been struck by the fact
that radio and newspaper coverage of the event did not give the victims' names, but
instead referred to them merely as "deportees." For example, none of the deportees'
names were printed in the
January 29, 1948 New York Times report, only those of the
flight crew and the security guard.
Today if there is a major tragedy I cannot imagine that names would be omitted on the basis of ethnicity.
2) Guthrie and the*Bracero Program
Some say that "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" betrays Woody Guthrie's lack of understanding
regarding the Bracero Program, which was instituted in
1942, that permitted Mexican farm laborers
(or braceros) to work in the United States due to the severe labor shortages caused by World War II.
Perhaps it would be cynical to suggest that once the war was over in
1945 there was no more need
for Mexican labour.*However, it could be argued that Guthrie's song is less about the Bracero Program
itself and more a comment on the attitude of American society and the media towards the Mexican
farm laborers.
That would be my position. Even though the song deals with a specific historical incident the more
important universal message is "mans inhumanity to man" This is reinforced by the fact that*Guthrie
assigned symbolic names to the dead: "Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita; adiós, mis amigos,
Jesús y María" which gives some dignity to the un-named dead.
3)Guthrie and Government.
In addition to being a lament for the braceros killed in the crash, the opening lines
of "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)":
"The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps."
I never really got that line about "creosote dumps", but at the time, government policies
paid farmers to destroy their crops in order to keep farm production and prices high.
Guthrie felt that it was wrong to render food inedible by poisoning it in a world where
hungry people lived.
Here in Finland there is a policy started by the
EU called "Pakkettipelto"="Packagedfields"
whereby farmers are paid
NOT to grow crops as a way of controlling prices. It is crazy
what governments do.
So my stance is that even though the song is rooted to a specific time and place,
the theme is more universal and gives succour to nobler aspirations of the human*
spirit, and hence photos of immigrants who obtain acceptance and solace instead
of rejection are in my opinion entirely appropriate.