April 26, 1940: Woody Guthrie Records "Dust Bowl Ballads"

April 26, 1940: Woody Guthrie records the album Dust Bowl Ballads at RCA Victor studios, at 155 East 24th Street in Manhattan.

The "Dust Bowl" was a series of wind storms that produced "black blizzards" across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The dust storms caused extensive damage, and appeared to turn the day to night. Witnesses reported that they could not see 5 feet in front of them at certain points.

Dust Bowl conditions fomented an exodus of the displaced from the Texas Panhandle, the adjoining Oklahoma Panhandle, and the surrounding Great Plains to adjacent regions. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. More than 350 houses had to be torn down after one storm alone. The severe drought and dust storms had left many homeless; others had their mortgages foreclosed by banks, or felt they had no choice but to abandon their farms in search of work.

Many Americans migrated west looking for work. Parents packed up "jalopies" with their families and a few personal belongings, and headed west in search of work. In particular, residents of Oklahoma and Arkansas -- "Okies" and "Arkies" -- headed west on U.S. Route 66, which became known as "The Mother Road," for California, "the land of milk and honey," hearing of jobs available picking fruits and vegetables. These jobs proved to be worse than farming, as they were no longer their own bosses, and the bosses were brutal until the labor unions came in.

The Plains States lost about 3.5 million people in the 1930s. More migrants arrived in California in 1936 than in any other year, including the Gold Rush year of 1849.

Guthrie, a native of Okemah, Oklahoma, then 27 years old, recorded Dust Bowl Ballads, one of the earliest "concept albums." It was 12 songs, 6 songs to a side, and if that wasn't enough symmetry -- not that he was going for it, on purpose -- the total length is 36 minutes and 36 seconds.

Side 1: "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues," "Blowing Down This Road," "Do Re Mi" (not the traditional "scales" song, or the song that would later appear in the musical The Sound of Music), "Dust Can't Kill Me," "Tom Joad-Part 1" and "Tom Joad-Part 2," tributes to the lead character of John Steinbeck's novel about the Dust Bowl, The Grapes of Wrath, whose film version had been released 3 months earlier.

Side 2: "The Great Dust Storm," "Dusty Old Dust" (a.k.a. "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh"), "Dust Bowl Refugee," "Dust Pneumonia Blues," "I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore," and "Vigilante Man."

All songs were written by Guthrie himself, although he got help on "Blowing Down This Road" from Lee Hays of The Weavers.

Recorded for the album, but not included on it until a 1964 reissue, was "Pretty Boy Floyd," which recasts the vicious bank robber Charles Arthur Floyd, gunned down by FBI agents in 1934, as a misunderstood hero of poor people, a Robin Hood type. In that song, Woody wrote:

Yes, as through this world I've wandered

I've seen lots of funny men.

Some will rob you with a six-gun

and some with a fountain pen.

In 1969, Mario Puzo would agree with him, writing in The Godfather, "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."

But Woody followed with:

And as through your life you travel

yes, as through your life you roam

you won't never seen an outlaw

drive a family from its home.

In 1981, Bruce Springsteen, heavily influenced by Guthrie, would disagree with him, writing in "Atlantic City":

Well, they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night.

And they blew up his house, too. 

*

April 26, 1940 was a Friday. It turned out to be a big day in music for another reason: Giorgio Moroder was born. Unfortunately, he turned his music production talents to a form of music I can't stand, becoming known as "The Father of Disco."

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-1 at Fenway Park. Emerson Dickman outpitched Monte Pearson. Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Ted Williams went 0-for-4 with a walk. Joe DiMaggio did not play.

* The New York Giants beat the Boston Bees, 5-3 at the Polo Grounds. Cliff Melton was the winning pitcher, in relief of Carl Hubbell. Mel Ott went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. The next season, the Bees went back to their 1912-1935 name, the Boston Braves.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Freddie Fitzsimmons pitched a 7-hit shutout. Harry "Cookie" Lavagetto went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-6 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Paul Waner went 1-for-3 with a walk. Lloyd Waner went 1-for-5.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-1 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* And the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 29. The Tigers won the opener, 9-5. The nightcap was called due to darkness after 9 innings, tied 9-9. Over the 2 games, Hank Greenberg went 2-for-7 with a home run, 3 walks, and 5 RBIs.