Woodie Guthrie’s “I Don’t Feel At Home on the Bowery No More”

2012 marks the centennial birth of iconic folk artist Woodie Guthrie. The singer was born on July 14, 1912 and forever redefined the genre. From California to the New York island at the center of it all.

Shepard Fairey's Woodie Guthrie

The website specifically dedicated to the celebrations reminds us that the song “I Don’t Feel at Home on the Bowery No More” was written almost 72 years ago to the day. The subject matter plays on the dichotomy of rich Fifth Avenue living versus the destitute flophouses of the Bowery. Of course the song takes on a whole new connotation in this era, what with Bowery 2.0 pretty much annihilating the character of the neighborhood. The last lyrical couplet says it all – “since I seen the difference ‘tween the rich and the poor/I don’t feel at home in the Bowery no more.”

Here’s an interpretation of the song by Hans Eckhardt Wenzel…