Deportee – Celebrating the birthday of one of the most important songwriters ever. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #WoodyGuthrie #JoanBaez #PeteSeeger #ArloGuthrie #MartinHuffman

One of the most revered folk singers of all time was born on this day in 1912. Woody Guthrie’s library of songs is vast and his influence is still felt to this day. Today’s song is ‘Deportee’ which brings out both the angry and empathetic side of the brilliant songwriter. Biographers consider ‘Deportee’ to be perhaps his last great song. Written in 1948, it has an edge that parallels what is happening today in some ways. Because of that I want to bring the song forward and discuss its significance. Like many Woody Guthrie songs ‘Deportee’ is a protest song. It details a plane crash in California that took the lives of 32 people, including 28 migrant workers from Mexico, and four Americans, who made up the flight crew and security. In some radio and newspaper reports, coverage of the crash named the Americans individually but referred to the Mexican victims as simply ‘deportees’. The purpose of the song from Woody’s standpoint was to bring purpose to the lives of these Mexican citizens. While decrying the social injustice of the slight he set about offering names of the victims in his song/obituary. The compassion oozed from the poetry as it was presented by Guthrie in more of a chant than a song. 

Good bye to my Juan

Good bye Rosalita

Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria

You don’t have a name 

When you ride the big airplane

All they will call you 

Will be ‘deportees

Woody Guthrie

It wasn’t until ten years later that the lyrics were set to music by a school teacher named Martin Huffman. This caught the attention of Woody Guthrie’s long time friend, Pete Seeger. With Seeger’s delivery the song and the sentiment took flight. 

Through the years the source of the anger behind the song has been the subject of some debate. The media report that first sparked Guthrie’s rage was a New York Times article. Closer to the accident scene in Los Gatos there was more attention given to the Mexican victims. Living in New York, the songwriter wouldn’t have known this, so his reaction to the national presentation of the story is somewhat justified. The second aspect of the story relates to the treatment of the migrant workers and why they were labeled deportees. During this post WWII era the U.S government had instituted something called the ‘Bracero Program’ that due to the fact there were severe labour shortages in the country, migrant workers from Mexico were permitted to come into the country to do the work and then leave. The transportation was all to be done at the expense of the labour contractors. If the contractor reneged on this agreement, once the work was done the U.S immigration service was to brand the workers illegal and order them deported; thus the term deportee. It appears Guthrie’s song mostly channeled his anger toward the attitude of American society and media relating to the Mexican farm labourers. He felt they were dehumanized and deemed expendable as shown in this passage:

Some of us are illegal

And some are not wanted

Our work contract’s out

And we have to move on.

Six hundred miles to the Mexican border

They chase us like outlaws 

Like rustlers, like thieves.”

Woody Guthrie

Seventy years later we are fighting a similar dehumanization. It’s infuriating to witness. 

Another source of his anger was the pure waste that was created by government decree of the time. Based on policy they paid farmers to literally destroy their crops in order to artificially keep farm production and prices high. As a strong advocate for social justice Guthrie was outraged by this blatant disregard, which essentially allowed for good produce to be poisoned in a world where many people starved. 

The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting

The oranges piled in their creosote dumps”

Woody Guthrie

Not only that, but the work the migrant workers provided was essentially part of a government ruse to dupe its own citizens and force world markets to pay higher prices. 

Whatever the source of the anger; the mistreatment, the waste, or both, Woody Guthrie captured the injustices in this short passage about a group of deportees who were paid 30 cents an hour, but in return paid with their lives. 

‘Deportee’ has been covered by the who’s who of the music world since Pete Seeger brought it to the folk ‘mainstream’ sixty years ago. We are talking Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, The Highwaymen. Geez…even Dolly Parton. If you are interested listen to any or all of their tributes. 

You may recall I featured Woody Guthrie, ‘This Land is Your Land’ a while back and for the cover I chose his son Arlo. I will make no apologies for choosing Arlo again for one simple reason. When you see Arlo Guthrie sing this song you can feel him channeling his father’s anger, his emotion, his compassion. I witnessed this a few years ago at Burlington Performing Arts Centre. My son Sebastian and I were in the front row. Guthrie was celebrating 100 years of Woody Guthrie on an international tour, so much of his set list included his father’s library. When he played ‘Deportee’ you could just feel everything. That’s what music is about. What a tribute to a great man by a loving son. When the song was finished the venue was briefly silent and then the audience exploded. I imagine there were a few tears. So powerful! So great to be there. 

I share this video because it captures the essence of an Arlo Guthrie performance. You get stories that you would never expect. You get the background of every song and a glimpse into his past.