Woody Guthrie’s 33rd Resolution - Wake Up and Fight

The picture above is from Woody Guthrie’s 1942 diary, in which he wrote down his New Year’s Resolutions. They’re pretty friggin’ amazing. Equally so is the song linked below by Matthew Grimm, an heir to Woody’s legacy as the best damn songwriter kicking around North America. As with Woody before him, Matthew knows that you don’t coddle fascists or humor wicked and greedy bastards. You use your guitar, your words and your brains to slay the fuckers. Y’all should know more about Matthew Grimm. If Woody were still alive, he’d likely be in Grimm’s Madison, Wisconsin apartment, working on a collaboration. He’s that good.  Find him. Buy the songs he’s recorded in order to provide him with enough jack to record the next one, then the next one, then the next one.

Woody Guthrie’s 33rd Resolution, by Matthew Grimm:

Now I lay me down bone-tired and bruised
Perchance to dream of better days might never be
I’d pray the lord my soul to keep But even if
He’s there, I’m told he pays no heed to guys like me

In 1942 Woody Guthrie wrote his New Year’s Resolutions down
That they might guide us through the darkest times

Number one, Work more and better
Number eight, Write a song a day
Thirteen, Read lots good books
Number four, Shave
Nineteen, keep hoping machine running
Thirty two Make up your mind
Thirty-one, Love everybody
And Number thirty-three, Wake up and fight

When we were little we learned of heroes, of a world of
Of fairy tales, our own to make
But we’re just people trying to makes sense out of things that don’t
And supermen rule the Earth instead of save the day

In a world turned upside down, where superstition trumps all reason
Woody Guthrie’s voice still rings out through the darkest nights
Number fifteen, learn people better
Number eight, Write a song a day
Twenty-seven, beat the fascists
Number four, Shave
Nineteen, Keep hoping machine running
Thirty-two, Make up your mind
Thirty-one, Love everybody
And number thirty-three, Wake up and fight.

Click here to download this song or the whole damn album.