Meaning of Hoping Machine
"largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine" - Woody Guthrie
Folkies all love Woody Guthrie. One of my favorite songs ever written is Woody’s, “Remember the Mountain Bed” (Link to Jeff Tweedy performing it at Farm Aid). We hurt, laugh, love, wonder, fight and survive through our wandering journey here.
Having loved the Mermaid Avenue albums, I couldn’t wait for the New Multitudes album to come out. That featured Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Jim James recording Woody lyrics to music they wrote. That album ended up being released in February 2012. At the time I needed anything positive. Job wise I was working a temp position as a case manager and waiting tables, while applying for anything long term. My daughter had been born at the end of December 2011 and her mom and I struggled to see eye to eye on anything. The past year had been painful on a level that I had never experienced. Some days I looked in the mirror, with more hate and anger than I thought possible. Emotions like these push forward thoughts like, “What am I doing here?” or “Is it even worth sticking around?”. Life had suddenly turned into a constant struggle to feel worthwhile and each day began with an aching soul. I was working two jobs, running and drinking to shove aside lingering thoughts on whether to punch out early.
This album helped me through (there were a couple others which I’ll post about later). I picked up the album at Cheapo Disc on Snelling Avenue in Saint Paul and popped into the disc player of my burnt orange Suzuki SX4. The chorus hit:
“Whatever you do, and Wherever you go
Don’t lose your grip on live and that means
Don’t let any earthly calamity knock your dreamer and your hoping machine”
I wept. Those were the words I needed to hear at that moment. It felt like an old friend was reaching through the speakers of my car to get me through. 2011-2012 are a bit of a blur now, just far enough in the rearview that the immediate visual of the damage has past and maybe can make some sense out of things. Woody still speaks through that album. I took another listen in prepping this post:
“Democracy, democracy,
Hey, lift up your head!
This is the same curbstone where my family bled.
The voters are voting
Whilst the blood soaks it red.
Democracy, democracy,
Hey, lift up your head!”
- From “Whereabouts Can I Hide”
In seeking to present a meaningful Substack, I fell back on this memory, which inspired the title, Hoping Machine.
Thanks, Woody, for the words you wrote in 1942, that helped me through 2012.