Songs 8 and 9

Jesus Christ by Woodie Guthrie

Jesus Christ was written in 1940 by Woodie Guthrie. The song talks about Jesus going through the land preaching to the wealthy about giving their goods to the poor, and when the wealthy refuse they put Jesus death. This song actually seems to depict how Jesus really was, Guthrie says that he was a good man and that he was originally a Carpenter. The song is written like it is flopping back and forth from when Jesus actually lived to present day. The song talks about Jesus like he lived, but uses current day people like Cops and Sheriffs as the bad guy. Then though the writer says that it was written in NY City and that if Jesus preached there like he had preached in Galilee he would be put to death, so it's kind of confusing. As far as my opinion of the song, it was my least favorite of the fifteen. The way it sounds reminds me of a couple of guys sitting on a porch in the woods goofing off. The lyrics were okay, I just didn't like the execution. It made me realize that had Jesus been around in the US today that there probable wouldn't have been many people to accept his message, even back in the forties. If this was written in the forties, then people back then must have some of the same attitudes that people today have. It made me realize how closed our society is and must have been back then to completely new ideas, especially ideas that require faith. Faith meaning you just have to trust, and sometimes you won't always be able to have or know the answer.

Do Re Mi by Ani DiFranco

Do Re Mi was written in 1940. This song was originally written by Woodie Guthrie about the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. During the Dust Bowl there were a lot of states affected in crops, etc and people were trying to get to California to get out of the drought which had turned the plains into dust bowls. In the song they repeatedly say that if you don't have the "do re mi" then to stay where you are, and by "do re mi" they mean money. The song when listened to sounds like a warning from an individual who tried to escape the dust bowl and didn't have any luck. I personally like this song. I thought that the tune, beat and sound was upbeat and fun to listen to. It was one of the songs on the CD that I found getting stuck in my head. What did this allow me to learn about US history? Well, I actually had no idea that anything like the Dust Bowl had ever happened. So, by listening to this song and doing a little research about it, I was able to learn about the Dust Bowl in the 1930's.