Woody Guthrie
In time for MLK Day, let me share a story where journalism, art and injustice intersect (but not wine).
In 1948 Woody Guthrie read an article (or heard a story on the radio, accounts vary) about a plane crash over Los Gatos Canyon, southwest of Fresno. The crew of four and 28 passengers all died. The crew’s names were listed but not the passengers. The 28 were Mexican farm worker s: they were ‘deportees.’ They were buried in a mass grave with a plaque only reading: “28 Mexican citizens who died in an airplane accident near Coalinga.”
Woody was upset that the 28 were not named. He wrote a poem about the incident and ten years later Martin Hoffman set it to music. Many singers have since performed the song, including Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Lyle Lovett, The Highwaymen and John McCutcheon.
In fact, to underline the injustice of not being named, Woody’s lyrics included names he made up to make the point.
The crops are all in, and the peaches are rotten
The oranges are all packed in the creosote dumps
They’re flying them back to the Mexican Border
To save all their money then wade back again
My father’s own father, he waded that river
Others before him have done just the same
They died in the hills, and they died in the valleys
Some went to heaven without any name
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be “Deportee”
Some of us are illegal, and others not wanted
Our work contracts out, and we have to move on
Six-hundred miles to the Mexican Border
They chase us like rustlers, like outlaws, like thieves
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
And all they will call you will be “Deportee”
The sky-plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of thunder, it shook all the hills
Who are all these dear friends scattered like dry leaves?
The radio said they were just deportees
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita (Adiós a mi Juan, adiós Rosalita)
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be “Deportee”
Adiós a mi Juan (Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita)
Adiós Rosalita
Adiós mis amigos, Jesus and Maria
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you is deportee
In recent years several people were inspired by the song to research the story and in fact, did identify the 28 people. Tim Hernandez wrote All They Will Call You, which detailed all of their names and stories.
Arlo Guthrie recommends the book: “In his lyrics to ‘Plane Wreck at Los Gatos,’ my father, Woody Guthrie, asked a simple question, ‘Who are these friends?’ and finally someone has answered that question. It was unknown if their stories would ever come to light, or if they would simply remain ghosts without names, as if they had no lives at all—as if they didn’t count. Through Hernandez’s amazing work, I now know who these people were, their lives, their loves, and their journeys. All They Will Call You is a heart-wrenching read for anyone who cares, and the names—now etched in stone in a far-off graveyard—have become friends who will travel with me as long as I am walking.”
The Smithsonian covered this story, as did KQED.
In 2018 a plaque was added to the gravesite listing all the names.
Listening to the different interpretations of this classic song is worthwhile…my favorite versions are John McCutcheon’s and Judy Collins’s.
“Happy” MLK Day.