Origins:Jesus Christ / Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)

Subject: Chord Req: Jesus Christ/Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 11:02 PM

I was wondering if anybody had the chords to Jesus Christ by Woody Guthrie. They're the same as Jesse James. Thanks.

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Also see Guthrie's 'Jesus Christ'

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Jesus Christ/Jesse James (Woody Guthrie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 12:40 AM

Hi - these are the chords printed in Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, by Lomax, Guthrie, and Seeger (1967)

JESUS CHRIST
(Woody Guthrie)

          G                   C                     G
  Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land
                         D
  Hard working man and brave
       G                            C
  He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor."
                        D
  So they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
  
   C                   G
  Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
                           D
  His followers true and brave
       G                          C       G
  One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot
                   D              G
  Has laid Jesus Christ in his grave
  

Complete lyrics are here (click) in the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: ADD Version: Jesus Christ Was a Man (W. Guthrie)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 12:51 AM

The lyrics I have are quite different from those in the Digital Tradition, but the DT version is very close to the lyrics in The [Nearly] Complete Collection of Woody Guthrie Folk Songs (Ludlow Music, 1963). Are both sets of lyrics legitimate?
-Joe-

Jesus Christ Was a Man
(Woody Guthrie)

Jesus Christ was a man that traveled through the land,
A Carpenter true and brave;
He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor",
So they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

Chorus
Yes Jesus was a man, a Carpenter by Hand,
A Carpenter true and brave.
And a dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot,
He laid Jesus Christ in His grave.

The people of the land took Jesus by the Hand,
They followed Him far and wide;
"I come not to bring you Peace, but a Sword."
So they killed Jesus Christ on the sly.

He went to the sick and He went to the poor,
He went to the hungry and the lame;
He said that the poor would win this world,
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.

One day Jesus stopped at a rich man's door,
"What must I do to be saved?"
"You must sell your goods and give it to the poor",
So they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.

They nailed Him there to die on a cross in the sky,
In the lightning and thunder and rain;
And Judas Iscariot he committed suicide,
When they laid poor Jesus in his grave.

This wide wicked world of soldiers and slaves,
Rich man, poor man and thief;
If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee,
They would lay Jesus Christ in His grave.

When the love of the poor shall turn into hate,
When the patience of the workers gives away;
"Twould be better for you rich if you'd never been born"
For you laid Jesus Christ in His grave.


from Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, by Alan Lomax, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger (Oak Publications, 1967)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Jesus Christ/Jesse James (Woody Guthrie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 01:28 AM

Here's the version from The [Nearly] Complete Collection of Woody Guthrie Folk Songs (Ludlow Music, 1963).


JESUS CHRIST
(Woody Guthrie)

Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land
A hard working man and brave
He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor."
But they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

CHORUS
Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
His followers true and brave
One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot
Has laid Jesus Christ in his grave

He went to the preacher, He went to the sheriff,
He told them all the same,
"Sell all your jewelry and give it to the poor,
But they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.
When Jesus come to town, all the working folks around
Believed what He did say,
The bankers and the preachers they nailed Him on a cross,
Then they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.

The poor workin' people, they followed Him around,
They sung and they shouted gay,
The cops and the soldiers, they nailed Him in the air,
And they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.
Well, the people held their breath when they heard about His death,
And everybody wondered why,
It was the landlord and the soldiers that he hired,
To nail Jesus Christ in the sky.

(Sung to first sixteen measures)
This song was written in New York City,
Of rich man, preacher and stave,
But if Jesus was to preach like He preached at Galilee,
They would lay Jesus Christ in his grave.

Source: The [Nearly] Complete Collection of Woody Guthrie Folk Songs (Ludlow Music, 1963).

Subject: RE: lyr/Chord: Jesus Christ/Jesse James(Woody Guthrie)
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 07:45 PM

The second one is the only one I've ever heard Woody sing. I don't really like the first version of the lyrics you posted. The simplicity of the other is much better.

Subject: RE: lyr/Chord: Jesus Christ/Jesse James(Woody Guth
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 09:07 PM

Joe's first version is nearer to what I've got on a record with Woody singing it. I'm sure he wouldn't have intentionally left out that last verse especially.

Subject: RE: Origins:Jesus Christ / Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 15 Jan 26 - 09:15 PM

There's a version of this with the chorus:

Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
His followers true and brave
But the cops and legislators called them dangerous agitators
And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave

Does anyone know where the "agitators" line came from? I can't find a recording of Woody singing it that way, though it certainly sounds like his turn of phrase.

Dan Schatz

Subject: RE: Origins:Jesus Christ / Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 26 - 11:52 PM

Is that ever timely!

Subject: RE: Origins:Jesus Christ / Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 16 Jan 26 - 12:44 PM

Well, yes, there's a reason I'm asking!

Dan

Subject: RE: Origins:Jesus Christ / Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Jan 26 - 01:30 PM

Hi, Dan -
Take a look at the article titled "Revised Up Singing" in this document:
https://folkworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FWv05n04.pdf
(search for agitator - it's on page 25.)

The "cops and legislators"/agitators line is in Rise Up Singing....and I wouldn't trust it as authentic. As you know, I work for Peter Blood and Annie Patterson as a lyrics editor, and I have had many arguments with Peter Blood about revisionisms like this. I wasn't around for the production of Rise Up Singing, but I won most of my battles on Rise Again and a subsequent Pete Seeger songbook.

Woody changed his words all the time, so I guess the "agitators" line could be his - but I doubt it. I listened to four different Woody recordings of the song, and all of them had more-or-less this same chorus:

CHORUS:
Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
His followers true and brave
One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot
Has laid Jesus Christ in His Grave

The Guthrie Family has done a pretty good job on compiling Woody's lyrics, but they usually have only one version of a song. Here's the version of "Jesus Christ" that they have:
https://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Jesus_Christ.htm

I used to think that the lyrics in Sing Out! were accurate, but I found out differently when I worked on Rise Again. The magazine had a lot of sloppy transcriptions. When I did the lyrics transcriptions for Rise Again, I tried to find two printed sources and two recorded sources for each song....and even that wasn't infallible.

Subject: RE: Origins:Jesus Christ / Jesse James (Woody Guthrie)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 16 Jan 26 - 06:06 PM

I mean, it's very good wherever it came from. But it would be nice to know the origin. And yes, i'd checked out the Guthrie site.