Right, Mark! I thought it was incredible. Only someone who was on the left side of politics could really get Woody. His venue was where the activist action was. Musical activism was a heritage that Woody, if not started, carried on to establish the "protest song" and was the first to my knowledge to introduce songs about the "environment" and the dust bowl was part of the desertification of the world which is the product of global warming. Woody was a musical descendent of Joe Hill. He was always for the little guy and was opposed to big business, corporate types in Show Biz or anywhere else.

He didn't like Hitler, obviously, but saw fascist elements in the U.S. equally as dangerous and hence "This machine licks fascists" wasn't just about Germany, Japan or Italy.

I believe that he influenced Leadbelly in the writing of the "Bourgeois Blues" and "Red Cross Store" but I don't really know that. I'm not sure but he may have influenced Josh White, also. Alan Lomax obviously got Woody and was responsible for the songs Woody wrote for the Bonneville Dam Administration, the best use of tax payer money I can think of.

My opinion, no Left, no Woody.