Protest singers have come and gone but the relevance of Woody Guthrie still echoes to this day. As its been discovered, Mr. Guthrie's humble reach extends to the current Republican primaries for the candidacy--to none other than Mr. Donald Trump. While Guthrie may not have known Donald in his life he did know his father Fred Trump as his landlord in a little Brooklyn enclave called Beach Haven, which strictly did not lease to African-Americans and which he reworked into the song "I Ain't Got No Home."
Per NPR's "All Things Considered" segment, Woody Guthrie leased an apartment to Fred Trump, and this is proven through lease agreements that Guthrie was required to sign every six months.
To no one's surprise, however, Mr. Fred Trump was reckoned to be a racist by the folk singer, who reappropriated his song "I Ain't Got No Home" to accommodate his feelings of contempt for his irreverent landlord.
Wil Kaufman, a professor of American literature and culture at the University of Central Lancashire, says that he discovered lyrics from Guthre that denounced Trump in the early 1950s.
Recanting the change in lyrics, Kaufman sang on the segment:
"I think I've got it to memory. He goes (singing) Beach Haven ain't my home. I just can't pay this rent. My money is down the drain, and my soul is badly bent. Beach Haven is like heaven where no black ones come to roam. No, no, no, old man Trump, Beach Haven ain't my home."
For the Republican primaries, Donald Trump has been charted as a contender for the candidacy. While the history of Mr. Trump's father may not have much weight on the campaign trail it's certainly a detail to note in the lack of shift in politics since Guthrie's time to now.
Check out the Guthrie tune below in the meantime and be sure to check out the interview.
