Lyr Req: Old Man Trump (Woody Guthrie)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man Trump (Woody Guthrie)
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 12:44 PM

Young Man Trump's an old man now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man Trump (Woody Guthrie)
From: Greg F.
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 12:13 PM

And then there's Young Man Trump- wish Woody was still around to deal with him.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man Trump (Woody Guthrie)
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 10:36 AM

Thanks - what made me doubtful was the 'Trump's Tower' line, since Trump Tower wasn't built for 20 years after this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Man Trump (Woody Guthrie)
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 10:30 AM

Presto! Real song.

Subject: Origins: Woody Guthrie song about Trump Sr
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 10:21 AM

The 30 Days 30 Songs website is running a song it says Woody Guthrie sang about Donald Trump's father, Old Man Trump. Is this genuine?

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD MAN TRUMP (Woody Guthrie)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jul 16 - 04:52 PM

Here are the lyrics as they appear at https://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Old_Man_Trump.htm, which appears to be the "official" Woody Guthrie website (with the formatting tidied up a bit by me):


OLD MAN TRUMP
Words by Woody Guthrie, Music by Ryan Harvey
© Copyright Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. (BMI) & Ryan Harvey (ASCAP)

1. I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate
He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed that color line
Here at his Beach Haven family project

CHORUS: Beach Haven ain't my home! No, I just can't pay this rent!
My money's down the drain, and my soul is badly bent!
Beach Haven is Trump's Tower where no black folks come to roam,
No, no, Old Man Trump! Old Beach Haven ain't my home!

2. I'm calling out my welcome to you and your man both
Welcoming you here to Beach Haven
To love in any way you please and to have some kind of a decent place
To have your kids raised up in.

[CHORUS, INSTRUMENTAL BREAK, REPEAT VERSE 1 & CHORUS TWICE.]*

* As performed by Ryan Harvey, Ani Difranco, and Tom Morello.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lyrics for Woody's song about Fred Trump
From: Mark Ross
Date: 19 Jul 16 - 05:50 PM

Here's the recording. It sort of sounds like Woody used I AIN'T GO HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE as his tune model, although it's hard to tell from the is arrangement,


Old Man Trump; Ryan Harvey, Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lyrics for Woody's song about Fred Trump
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 19 Jul 16 - 04:22 PM

There's a little more:

I remembered that this past January, the Woody Guthrie Archives sent a sound clip to their mailing list that had around 30 seconds of Woody half-singing a few lines about Fred Trump. This was different from what was posted above, and some of it (toward the end) was hard to decipher. I saved the clip, and here's what it sounds like to me:

I don't like the way my landlord's treatin' me,
I don't like the way Mr. Trump is a-treatin' me,
I don't like the way that my landlord's treatin' me,
And… jump in the [???] if it will do,
I don' wanna do about him…

The unintelligible word sounds a little like "lock" but I can't be certain.

Joe, please check your PM box.


Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lyrics for Woody's song about Fred Trump
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jul 16 - 02:25 PM

Hi, Frank-
There's an interesting article by Will Kaufman about Woody and "Old Man Trump" here (click).

And a piece on NPR (click).

Also in Time Magazine.

In his notebooks, Guthrie wrote:

I suppose

Old Man Trump knows

Just how much

Racial Hate

he stirred up

In the bloodpot of human hearts

When he drawed

That color line

Here at his

Eighteen hundred family project

Guthrie, whose songs advocated for American equality and condemned racism, lamented the lack of diversity among the residents of Trump’s Beach Haven apartments, according to Kaufman.

Beach Haven ain’t my home!

I just cain’t pay this rent!

My money’s down the drain!

And my soul is badly bent!

Beach Haven looks like heaven

Where no black ones come to roam!

No, no, no! Old Man Trump!

Old Beach Haven ain’t my home!

Subject: Lyr Req: Lyrics for Woody's song about Fred Trump
From: Stringsinger
Date: 15 Jul 16 - 12:22 PM

Woody Guthrie wrote a song about Donald Trump's father or at least mentions him in it.Could someone please post the lyrics for it and/or the tune? Thanks.

Frank