Vigilante Man
"Vigilante Man" is a song by Woody Guthrie, recorded and released in 1940 as one of his Dust Bowl Ballads.[1]
The song is about the hired thugs ("vigilantes") who would violently chase away migrants to California trying to escape the Dust Bowl, a man-made ecological catastrophe in the American Great Plains during the 1930s. One verse refers to the murder of Preacher (Jim) Casy, a central figure in John Steinbecks' 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath.[2]
The tune was taken from "Sad and Lonesome Day", a song made popular by The Carter Family; which itself borrows from "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" by Blind Lemon Jefferson.[2]
Recordings
The song has been recorded several times, including:
- 1940 – Woody Guthrie, on the album Dust Bowl Ballads
- 1972 – Ry Cooder, on the album Into the Purple Valley
- 1973 – Nazareth, on the album Razamanaz
- 1988 – Bruce Springsteen, on the album Folkways: A Vision Shared
- 1990 – Hindu Love Gods, on the album Hindu Love Gods
- 1996 – feedtime, on the album Billy
- 2002 – Ray LaMontagne, on the album One Lonesome Saddle
- 2005 – Joe Perry, on the album Joe Perry
References
- "Dust Bowl Ballads". Smithsonian Folkways. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
- Weber, Barry. Woody Guthrie: Vigilante Man at AllMusic. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
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