Woody Way

(From the Songbook of Public Forgetting)

By Eddie Glenn

 

Hey, Woody Guthrie, I’m in your home-state

Woody, gotta tell ya, man, the roads are not great

They don’t like wastin’ their money on taxes

I busted my bladder, and broke both my axles

 

Woody, all your old neighbors vote red

Now, don’t get excited ’bout what I just said

It don’t mean the same as it did in your day

It just means they take in a lot more than they pay

Now, Woody, tell me, is that the Woody Way?

 

When I got to your hometown, my money was spent

So I found a piece of ground, and I set up my tent

In the mornin’ a fella came ’round in his truck

He said, “This land is MY land! You owe me twenty bucks”

 

Woody, you would not believe this is true

They’ve got a big festival named after you

They play all your songs, and they smoke lots of dope

They make bank sellin’ hippies home-made flavored soap

Is that the Woody Way? Some folks would say, “Nope”

 

Woody, I went walkin’ all through your hometown

There were thousands of guitars and banjos around

The Chamber of Commerce director shook my hand

Then he sold me an album of his favorite band

 

Hey Woody, I’m sure you’d be thrilled to have found

They took the billboard that said, “Woody’s a Commie” down

Okemah’s a lot different than when you were here

All the people here love you, one week a year

Now that’s the Woody Way, Woody, I fear

 

 

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