The semi-autobiographical "Hard Travelin'" is one of Woody Guthrie's most famous songs. As Guthrie himself once put it,
I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.
I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.
I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.
There is no video of Guthrie singing "Hard Travelin' — there will be an audio clip later — but this 1966 performance by Pete Seeger is about as close as it can get. (Don't miss the clip of Pete Seeger and Ramblin' Jack Elliott at the bottom of the post.)
From the Asch recordings, 1944 or 1945. The harmonica is probably Sonny Terry
Well, maybe Cisco Houston is even closer to Woody than Pete Seeger:
Flatt & Scruggs, audio only:
Yes, I know it isn't the same song:
Bruce Springsteen, audio only:
Bob Dylan (audio only)
Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Pete Seeger (sorry about the shaky camera):
Ramblin' Jack Elliott — real name Elliot Charles Adnopoz — was born in Brooklyn in 1931. The son of a physician, he left home as a teenager to join the rodeo, which he had first seen in Madison Square Garden. By creating (and earning) his own myth, he paved the way for Bob Dylan, whom he mentored when the latter first arrived in Greenwich Village. Ramblin' Jack was still performing as recently as last year, and still influencing countless musicians.