The Year in Music: 1940

World War II raged in Europe and the Depression at home. Big Band began to take hold after being sneered at by the public. Meanwhile, Woody Guthrie releases Dust Bowl Ballads chronicling the struggles of people in the Midwest.

Glenn Miller In The Mood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE-onnw2gM

Frenesi-Artie Shaw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0F4k6klcmw

Only Forever-Bing Crosby:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNCt6hkCUic

When You Wish Upon a Star- Cliff Edwards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKh6XxYbbIc

Blueberry Hill-Gene Autry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdJSBtuS0oc

When The Swallows Return to Capistrano-The Ink Spots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3-p71lleUY

The Woodpecker Song- Glenn Miller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FynFKr9izA8

You Are My Sunshine-Jimmie Davis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZdUigq5Q_Y

Dust Bowl Blues- Woody Guthrie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K5eMK1mqcU

Woody Guthrie: Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1988

His life and career in links.

Rock Hall Bio:

http://rockhall.com/inductees/woody-guthrie/bio/

Official Site:

http://woodyguthrie.org/

His father was a Klansman that participated in a lynching. His mother suffered from dementia as a result of Huntington’s Disease. The disease later killed him.

In the 1930s, he began traveling with economic refugees migrating to California. He settled with radicals.

This Land is Your Land (1940):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

Billy the Kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVGpNRAErlc

Pretty Boy Floyd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4YKUJZI5Bg

Dustbowl Blues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYKJaWuj0Y

Tom Joad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWGAGPy_kw

Roll On Columbia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUoh2QSjXAw

House of the Rising Sun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQD1fRcRFO8

Bob Dylan visited Guthrie in the hospital to meet his idol. Guthrie died on October 3, 1967. His Dust Bowl Ballads remain some of the most important work in music history.

The Animals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmdPQp6Jcdk&feature=related

All-Star Tribute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHqOl7v4Axg

Bob Dylan: Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1988

His life and career in links.

Rock Hall Bio:
http://rockhall.com/inductees/bob-dylan/bio/

Home Page:
http://www.bobdylan.com/

Born Robert Zimmerman, he planned to “Follow Little Richard,” but changed his orientation to folk music at the University of Minnesota. He later changed his name to Bob Dylan.
In 1961, he dropped out of college and visited Woody Guthrie in a New York hospital. That year, he got a record contract. His first album made little impact.

Blowing in the Wind (1963):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zY_cM0_6vA

In 1965, Dylan plugged in angering folk fans. The previous year, he met John Lennon and told the Beatle he needed to learn to write about something meaningful. Lennon took it to heart and the Beatles evolved dramatically following the meeting.

The Times They Are a-Changin’ (1965):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vou4qUu5YY

Maggie’s Farm (1965): Dylan declares his independence from the folk community
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW4y-9RoMFU

At the Newport Folk Festival: He got booed for plugging in. The folkies could not handle it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1TKUk9nXjk

Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ujAXxNxU0

Like A Rolling Stone (1965):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk3mAX5xdxo

Positively 4^th Street (1965):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2wuPssClKs

Mr. Tambourine Man (1965):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVuVXqWfQeE

Just Like A Woman (1966):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5yQ8JJ8R9E

In 1966, he crashed his motorcycle breaking several vertebrae. Recuperation period allowed him time to regroup from the pressures of fame. He did not tour again for eight years.

All Along the Watchtower (1968):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swbcFnkeMwE

Dylan decided to go Country in 1969.

Lay Lady Lay (1969):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yvrugtnpo&feature=related

On the Johnny Cash show (1969):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KlkN1y7-2o

In the 70s, Dylan confused critics and fans with the varied quality of his music.

Dylan did the soundtrack and played a member of Billy the Kid’s gang in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CcadC-S8-E

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (1973):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJpB_AEZf6U&ob=av2e

Tangled Up in Blue (1975):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwSZvHqf9qM&feature=relmfu

In The Last Waltz (1976):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JObWTtWQiq0

In the late 70s, he became a born again Christian.

Gotta Serve Somebody (1979):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavBDpg91gA

Jokerman (1984):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavBDpg91gA

He performed on We are the World (1985)

The Traveling Wilburys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReQsRgQXgQY
MTV Unplugged (1995):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgrnC1r1XMw

Not Dark Yet (1998):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgBhyU4IvQ&ob=av2e

Things Have Changed (2000):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9EKqQWPjyo&ob=av2e

2006: Began his own radio show playing music from the 1930s-the present.

I’m Not There featured various actors playing Dylan at different points in his career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJzPSPkWTrM

Must Be Santa (2009):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus&ob=av2e

In 1988, he began the Never Ending Tour. By 2011, he had played 2300 shows in the tour.

Woody Guthrie: Tom Joad (1940)

Woody Guthrie followed the exploits of John Steinbeck's anti-hero after the events in The Grapes of Wrath. Joad stood for justice and human dignity in the face of tradition in the midst of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Henry Fonda played Tom Joad in the movie version of the novel. Over 50 years later, the character inspired Bruce Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWGAGPy_kw

802. This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie (1944)

Guthrie got sick of hearing Kate Smith's version of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on the radio. He felt the song disingenuous and decided to write a song he felt better reflected America. Guthrie sometimes changed the verses based on his mood. Some of the lyrics were overtly leftist and he modified them as he felt appropriate. Over time, the song has lost its overt political connotations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

Kate Smith's "God Bless America":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCavKL2zdjM