The Gospel According to Woody Guthrie

Keth Crowley, Woody Guthrie Foundation Centennial Design Commission

This is a re-post. I think the first time I posted it was in 2009. I'm posting it again because it's Mr. Guthrie's 100th birthday and also because it's one of my all time favorite songs.  The melody is by the Austin-based singer/songwriter Slaid Cleaves  - I never get tired of hearing his version, and most mornings I do. When I first posted it, I included some of my favorite photos, but this time I'll leave it to you to envision your own promised land. I think that's the point, really-- to feel like this, even just for a minute every day, and have that little rebirth.

This Morning I Was Born Again By Woody Guthrie

This morning I was born again and a light shines on my land
I no longer look for heaven in your deathly distant land
I do not want your pearly gates, don't want your streets of gold
This morning I was born again and a light shines in my soul.

This morning I was born again, I was born again complete
I stood up above my troubles and I stand on my two feet
My head it feels unlimited, my body feels like the sky
I feel at home in the universe where yonder planets fly.

This morning I was born again, my past is dead and gone
This great eternal moment is my great eternal dawn
Each drop of blood within me, each breath of life I breath
Is united with these mountains and the mountains with the seas.

I feel the sun upon me, it's rays crawl through my skin
I breathe the life of Jesu and old John Henry in
I give myself, my heart, my soul to give some friend a hand
This morning I was born again, I am in the promised land.

This morning I was born again and a light shines on my land
I no longer look for heaven in your deathly distant land
I do not want your pearly gates, don't want your streets of gold
And I do not want your mansions for my heart is never cold.



If you are in the NYC area, I'm helping to produce a Woody Guthrie tribute evening at 92Y on Sunday, November 18 -- save the date!  Tickets will go on sale soon.