The singer-songwriter recorded the audio on a reel-to-reel tape machine in his apartment in the 1950s. Now, the previously unheard song has
He recorded this song 70 or so years ago. It was found on a reel-to-reel tape. The deport-the-Mexicans itch that trump and stephen miller are scratching isn't new, just more vicious.
Excerpt from this story from Smithsonian Magazine:
When an aircraft crashed near Coalinga, California, in 1948, all 32 passengers and crew members perished. After the incident, the Fresno Bee, a local newspaper, published the names of some of the passengers, most of whom were farm laborers from Mexico. But the Associated Press’ coverage only named the crew members. In the news agency’s article, the passengers were referred to simply as “28 Mexican deportees,” as Rebecca Plevin reported for LAist in 2013.
The plane had been chartered by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Some of the workers had traveled to the U.S. without documentation, while others had arrived in the country as part of a government-sponsored work program; they were going home because their contracts had ended. None of those nuances were captured by the words “28 Mexican deportees.”
That phrase upset Woody Guthrie, who came across it when the AP story ran in the New York Times. So the activist and musician did what he did best: He commemorated the victims of the plane crash with a song. Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, that iconic song has a new life.
Often called “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” the protest song was later set to melody by Martin Hoffman. It was popularized by Pete Seeger, and it has been recorded by artists such as Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, the Byrds, Lyle Lovett, and Dolly Parton. But the only known audio of Guthrie singing his own song was a long-buried home recording. After being restored with A.I. audio tools, that clip was finally released earliet this month as “Deportee (Woody’s Home Tape).”
i've heard the woody guthrie song
deportee
many times
over the years
its tone sometimes pensive
sometimes poignant
but the lyrics always somewhat
distant
a story from the past
about braceros and migrants
who were used
often abused
and who sometimes died
on this foreign soil
with barely a notice
but history is repeating itself
exceeding itself
here and now
deportation widescale
wholesale
zero tolerance our official policy―
new and improved!
now with added cruelty!
the border patrol
ripping children from parents
caging people like animals
with less food, water, and shelter
than the average American pet
the government vilifying immigrants
treating asylum seekers like vermin
not like human beings
who are just looking for safety
security
jobs
to provide for their loved ones
the same things we all want
today
inundated by these horrific stories
faced with piercing pictures
of the suffering
and the fear
we've needlessly inflicted
for the first time ever
hearing this song
made me weep
Ulises (pseudonym) who was deported for the United States treasures the hat of his grandfather which hangs on the living room of the family's home. Deportations of Salvadorans, mainly from the United States and Mexico, are up in 2017 compared to 2016. / Ulises (seudónimo) quien fue deportado de los Estados Unidos atesora el sombrero de su abuelo, el que cuelga en la sala de la casa d. Las deportaciones de salvadoreños, principalmente de Estados Unidos y México, aumentaron en el 2017 en comparación con 2016. #EverydayElSalvador #refugee #Amnesty #CentralAmerica #Trumplandia #photojournalism #deportee #Immigration #ElSalvador #EverydayLatinAmerica #JuanCarlos #2017copyright
Joan Baez & Bob Dylan, “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)” Fort Worth, TX, May 16, 1976.
“We’ve died in your hills and we’ve died in your deserts.
We’ve died in your valleys, we’ve died on your plains.
We’ve died 'neath your trees and we’ve died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river we’ve died just the same...
---
Some of us are illegal, and others not wanted
Our work contract's out and we have to move on
But it's six hundred miles to that Mexican border
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.
---
Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves and rot on the top soil
and be called by no name except "deportee"
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be deportees.”
![Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee) [Live] 1970 September 12](https://64.media.tumblr.com/9827d43a583c419706f86876cf0fd82b/3dddddfc4eede293-fb/s512x512u_c1/5c5589a34a2068aad2e63bb0e557eaeeba9e665f.jpg)
![Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee) [Live] 1976 May 16 | Fort Worth, TX](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ptpmdwRtAb1tdp2jao1_1561558677_cover.png)