Category: Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie – London, England (07/07/44)

Woody Guthrie
BBC “Children’s Hour”
London, England
July 7, 1944

Plus

Lost Radio Shows

Woody Guthrie
Pete Seeger
Exact date unknown

Children’s Hours Setlist
1. Talking
2. Wabash Cannonball
3. 900 Miles

From Guy Logsdon’s Discography, reprinted in Santelli, Robert & Davidson, Emily (eds.),
Hard Travelin’ — The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, Hanover and London, 1999, p. 196:

“7 JULY 1944. Woody was a Merchant Marine, “washing dishes on a Liberty Ship,” the troop ship
Sea Porpoise which carried troops to the Normandy beach in early July 1944. After the troops were
sent ashore, the ship hit a mine but made its way back to England; Woody was routed through London
toward Glasgow, Scotland, toward the United States. On a song manuscript dated “July 13th, 1944”,
Woody wrote, “this train is carrying me outside from London now; on up towards Belfast, and Glasgow.”
While in London, he went to the offices of the BBC where he introduced himself as a member of
The Martins and the Coys [produced by Alan Lomax for the BBC in late March 1944, broadcast by the BBC
on 26 June 1944] and was given the opportunity to sing on the Children’s Hour. After an autobiographical
statement, he was recorded singing with his guitar accompaniment two railroad songs:
“Wabash Cannonball”
“900 Miles” (this is the minor-key melody that Cisco made popular)”

Lineage: BBC radio documentary, 1987 (provided by wonderboy)->Audacity->flac frontend (level 8, verify,
align on sector boundaries)

Although little over 5 minutes long, with Woody’s VD songs (probably from 1945).

Lost Radio Shows

Woody Guthrie
Pete Seeger

1. Us Department Of Health
“V.D.Blues”
Exact date unknown

Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly – New York, NY (12/12/40)

Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie
1940-12-12
WNYC Radio – Folk Songs of America
New York, NY

This is an 25-minute episode of “Folk Songs of America”, a program produced by noted folklorist Henrietta Yurchenco which featured Leadbelly. In this episode, Woody Guthrie is his guest.

Lineage: Transcription > 7″ Reel

01. Announcer Intro
02. You Can’t Lose Me, Cholly (Leadbelly)
03. Announcer
04. Frankie and Albert (Leadbelly)
05. John Hardy (Woody Guthrie)
06. Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
07. The Ballad of Tom Joad (Woody Guthrie)
08. Boll Weevil (Leadbelly)
09. Announcer Outro

Woody Guthrie – Various Radio Performances

Woody Guthrie
Various Live Songs

07/07/44*
BBC Radio “Children’s Hour”
London, Great Britain
Intro/Interview with Woody
Wabash Cannonball
900 Miles From Home

03/10/47
CBS Radio Studios
New York, NY
Hootenanny intro w/Pete Seeger and Ida Red
Blues All Around My Bed: Brownie McGee & Sonny Terry
Turtle Dove: Hally Wood & Pete Seeger
Summertime: Sidney Bechet
Hard Aint It Hard: Woody Guthrie & Sisco Houston
Talking Blues: Woody Guthrie
Raise A Ruckus Tonight: Woody Guthrie & Others
You May Run On For A Long Time: The Coleman Brothers
John Henry: Woody Guthrie & Others

08/19/40**
CBS Radio, New York, NY
Introduction: The Weather
Golden Gate Quartet: Sign of the Rain
Ensemble: Er-i-e Canal
Woody Guthrie on the subway and the weather
Woody Guthrie and cast: So Long It’s Been Good To Know You
Burl Ives: Foggy Dew
Willie Johnson & Golden Gate Quartet: Noah’s Ark Sermon
Woody Guthrie & Friends: So Long It’s Been Good To Know You (Reprise) & Outro

*From Guy Logsdon’s Discography, reprinted in Santelli, Robert & Davidson, Emily (eds.),
Hard Travelin’ — The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, Hanover and London, 1999, p. 196:

“7 JULY 1944. Woody was a Merchant Marine, “washing dishes on a Liberty Ship,” the troop ship Sea Porpoise which carried troops to the Normandy beach in early July 1944. After the troops were sent ashore, the ship hit a mine but made its way back to England; Woody was routed through London toward Glasgow, Scotland, toward the United States. On a song manuscript dated “July 13th, 1944”, Woody wrote, “this train is carrying me outside from London now; on up towards Belfast, and Glasgow.”

While in London, he went to the offices of the BBC where he introduced himself as a member of The Martins and the Coys [produced by Alan Lomax for the BBC in late March 1944, broadcast by the BBC on 26 June 1944] and was given the opportunity to sing on the Children’s Hour. After an autobiographical statement, he was recorded singing with his guitar accompaniment two railroad songs.

900 Miles is the minor-key melody that Cisco made popular.

**New York City, CBS Radio Forecast Series #10: This series was an attempt to try out new radio ideas; each program was
an introduction to a proposed new radio series. Hosted by Clifton Fadiman, written by Alan Lomax and Nicholas Ray,
featuring Woody Guthrie, The Golden Gate Quartet, Len Doyle, Burl Ives, Josh White and Willie Johnson

From mat
I recently found a disk with a variety of Woody Guthrie songs. Its full of fabulous stuff, but unfortunately I didn’t have any kind of information about it. I tried to input the setlist as best I could before I uploaded it but some songs are mislabeled. A little more digging and I think I have all the proper notations now, but again the MP3s are mislabeled. Sorry about that.

Its a brilliant set though.  Some of the best Woody stuff I’ve ever heard.  There’s lots of additional players as well including Pete Seeger.  And its all just tons of fun to listen to.