Quote of the day: Woody Guthrie / Born Naked
Quote of the day:
“I see worlds and worlds of rooms and desks where men and women are gathered around in robes, coats, suits and dresses to say what I shall write speak talk and sing. And they tell me that I am locked and barred from singing the true feelings of my nakedest skin. You are gathered here this morning to burn my finest papers. You are here in this room, at this very hour, to tell me that there is something ugly, vile, vulgar about me somewhere, somehow, some way. I excuse your ignorance. I am not ashamed of me nor ashamed of myself. My body is naked now and it was born naked.” —Woody Guthrie
Scott,
I love this quote, but can you provide some source or background information with regard to it.
I presume Woody Guthrie is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie, however I’m struggling to track down another source for the quote. I can’t even adequately determine what “Born Naked” is in reference to.
Thanks.
I’ve been trying to track it down – It might be from one of his journals.
The source is a collection of artists celebrating his work, called Til We Outnumber ‘Em. Track 8 has Tim Robbins reciting the passage I quoted.
The rest of it is on the first tribute album to Woody Guthrie and read by Peter Fonda “A Tribute to Woody Guthrie”. I just performed the Peter Fonda reading at the Hult Center for Performing Arts in Eugene Oregon. I also have not been able to find the original quote though. Here is a link to my performance if you want to hear the rest. https://youtu.be/2uAYy0VzKh8
Thanks Guy. I’ll check it out.