Woodie Guthrie’s 'Deportee' Still Resonates Today

For those keeping track of current events, this narrative may seem disturbingly similar: laborers from another country were gathered by immigration authorities, placed on an airplane, and sent to a detention facility before being deported back to Mexico. However, what makes this case stand out is the time period—1948—in Fresno County, California—and the tragic outcome: the plane crash resulted in the deaths of all aboard, among them the 28 workers.

One month later, Woody Guthrie captured the tragic event through a simple outline for a song that, during the 1950s, evolved into "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" when Colorado singer-songwriter Martin Hoffman composed a melody for it. Since then, "Deportee" has been performed by Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, the Byrds, Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco, the late friend of Guthrie and folk musician Cisco Houston, as well as Guthrie’s son Arlo, along with numerous other artists.

However, Guthrie's original version had vanished from history, until recently.

Released today, "Deportee (Woody's Home Tape)" is a recently discovered and restored audio clip featuring Guthrie reciting an early rendition of the song. This historic piece will be included as part of Woody at Home - Volumes 1 + 2 a set of previously unreleased Guthrie tracks released on August 14.

Following the tradition of numerous timely and protest songs, "Deportee" was taken straight from current events. While residing on Long Island, Guthrie learned about the airplane accident through the radio or a newspaper. The New York Times It was reported that among the deceased, some "entered the United States unlawfully," while others "remained past the end of their work visas in California." However, as Guthrie pointed out regarding the reporting, only the crew members were named. The laborers were merely referred to as "Mexican deportees," as though they lacked identities; several were eventually interred in a communal burial site in California.

The next month, Guthrie composed the lyrics for "Deportee." According to his granddaughter Anna Canoni, who serves as president of Woody Guthrie Publications, she stated, "Upon reading the article, which listed only the four American victims, Woody penned this song—perhaps not out of anger or disappointment, but rather as a reflection on the 28 Mexican citizens who weren't mentioned, as well as an acknowledgment of how the U.S. handles foreign individuals."

In the home-recorded version of the song, Guthrie can be heard reciting the lyrics with simple fingerpicking, lacking the more refined melody that Hoffman subsequently introduced. This rendition becomes even stronger because Guthrie employs a first-person perspective ("I don't have a name and I ride this big airplane/And just call me one more deportee") rather than the third-person alteration used later ("You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane/All they will call you will be 'deportees').

"The Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" is likely the most recognized song from Guthrie's collection that he never completed recording. When he created this tape at his family’s residence in Brooklyn, he was dealing with initial symptoms that would later be identified as Huntington's disease. Eventually, Guthrie was admitted to a hospital in New Jersey, where a young Bob Dylan encountered him (a) moment depicted in the latest Bob Dylan film in the most recent Dylan documentary in the new movie about Dylan in the latest cinematic portrayal of Dylan in the newest biography-based film featuring Dylan in the recently released Dylan-themed movie in the current Dylan screen adaptation in the latest depiction of Dylan onscreen A Complete Unknown ).

The latest release features almost two dozen previously unreleased tracks, such as an altered rendition of "This Land Is Your Land," along with domestic recordings of "Pastures of Plenty" and "Jesus Christ." However, due to current relevance, "Deportee" stands out as the most disturbing and evocative among these audio pieces. As Canoni remarked, "My grandfather once stated, 'A song isn’t anything more than a dialogue you can revisit repeatedly.' This maintains that exchange within the story... And regrettably, it must be revisited over and over again."

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