Song to Woody
A greeting that sets out
The song hands its first person to an elder. The melody comes from an inherited tradition, but the sentences are a young man’s own: rather than imitating an idol, he sits across from him inside the song, speaking of roads, dust and the world to come. Greeting here is not politeness; it is a way of taking up an instrument.
On a record made largely of inherited songs, it is one of the few new compositions, and so becomes a key: tradition is not a text to recite but a person to talk with. Listen for how a not-yet-famous singer turns “where I come from” into “where I am going.”
READ THE COMPLETE OFFICIAL LYRICSOriginal editorial interpretation: one possible listening perspective, not a claim to the songwriter’s definitive intention.
