On my last jaunt to New England, I got a chance to meet and talk with Eli Jaffe, who was a labour organizer in Oklahoma in the thirties and forties. He told me about getting a guitar lesson from Woody. I count myself lucky to have heard his wonderful stories of that time.

One of my favourite "Woody stories" is from the time he was asked to play for the Martha Graham Dance troupe. His wife Marjorie was exasperated at his habit of playing extra bars in a song, and sometimes just changing the beat and tempo at will. She angrily explained that the choreography wouldn't work if he didn't play the songs the same way each time.

Woody pondered this a bit and then said "Well, sometimes I play 'em slower, sometimes I play 'em faster, and sometimes I leave some pauses, and sometimes I don't.....and sometimes I just get up and walk out the door". Which he did.

Rick