{"id":1701,"date":"2013-10-12T17:37:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T16:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geraldgarcia.com\/wordpress\/?p=1701"},"modified":"2013-10-12T19:27:33","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T18:27:33","slug":"woodys-fan-letter-to-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/geraldgarcia.com\/?p=1701","title":{"rendered":"Woody’s fan letter to Cage"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a coda to yesterday’s post, here is what one of my greatest heroes, Woody Guthrie<\/a> wrote about John Cage and Alan Hovhaness, at the same time showing just what a wonderfully clear thinker and straightforward man Woody Guthrie was.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Woodrow Wilson<\/b> “Woody<\/b>” Guthrie<\/b> (July 14, 1912 \u2013 October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter<\/a> and folk musician<\/a> whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional<\/a> and children’s songs, ballads<\/a> and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists<\/i><\/strong> displayed on his guitar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Odd and unusual are two words that spring to mind when imagining Guthrie writing a letter in praise of Cage. (He also praises Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness<\/a>). Written in 1947, it is the kind of text one wants to quote in its entirety. Fortunately, we have the reproduction above, and you can read it for yourself. What isn\u2019t reproduced is the postscript, in which Guthrie wrote<\/a>: \u201cI need something like this oddstriking music to match the things I feel in my soul tonight.\u201d He also wrote that that morning, his wife, Marjorie, had \u201cgiven birth to a big 7-pound boy\u201d\u2014Arlo.<\/p>\n

Guthrie\u2019s letter references a (now extremely rare) two-disc set<\/a> entitled Piano Compositions by Alan Hovhaness and John Cage played by Maro Ajemian and Alan Hovhanes<\/em>, featuring a hand-drawn cover by acclaimed jazz-record illustrator David Stone Martin<\/a>. According to LA Times music critic Mark Swed<\/a>, the Cage composition on Guthrie\u2019s 78-rpm record was the prepared piano solos from Cage\u2019s Amores<\/em>, composed in 1943. Below, watch a performance of the \u201coddstriking\u201d Amores<\/em> by Spanish ensemble Neopercusi\u00f3n<\/a>.<\/p>\n