My Film Soundtrack

With Woody, Leadbelly, Dylan and the Band, Springsteen & Morello, Rosanne Cash, Ry Cooder, Wilco, The McGarrigles & Emmylou, Baez & Seeger, and Mellencamp.

Well, not quite. None of these songs—far too expensive to rent—are on the soundtrack for my low-budget if high-profile film, The First Attack Ads: Hollywood vs. Upton Sinclair, now airing on PBS stations across the USA and free to watch now at main PBS site, apps and Apple TV. (See my previous post for much more.) But these are songs that very much go with the Depression era and protest of that period. I made a tape for the car with many of these songs as far back as 1992 when I was on an author’s tour related to my rather classic book, The Campaign of the Century. So here they are, opening with six Woodys and closing with two more. (Woody died 55 years ago today.) Reminder, you can still subscribe to this newsletter, for free. And, yes, you can share this post and please do.

Woody Guthrie, “Jesus Christ”

Ry Cooder, “Vigilante Man”

Rosanne Cash, “I Ain’t Got No Home”

Wilco, “California Stars”

Mellencamp, “Do-Re-Mi”

Bob Dylan and The Band, “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt”

Leadbelly, “The Bourgeois Blues”

Springsteen and Morello, “The Ghost of Tom Joad”

Leadbelly, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”

The McGarrigles, Emmylou Harris, Rufus Wainwright, “Hard Times”

Baez & Seeger, three more from folk-genius Woodys: “So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya,” “Pastures of Plenty,” and “Deportee”

And my man Jason Isbell meets the original acetate of Woody’s first recording of “This Land Is Your Land”—and hears the long-hidden “extra” lyrics.