National Maritime Day
May 22nd marks National Maritime Day, a day to honor Merchant Marines and the role that the U.S. maritime industry has played in American society. In the 1940s, Woody Guthrie served as a Merchant Marine along with fellow folk singer, Cisco Houston, and his friend Jim Longhi. Written by Woody during his time in the service, the song “Talking Sailor”, also known as ‘Talking Merchant Marine’, is about Woody’s experience as a sailor.
Years after their time in the service, Jim Longhi published “Woody, Cisco, and Me: Seamen Three in the Merchant Marine”, detailing their time fighting in World War II. In the book, Longhi talks about Woody playing the song for the crew…
“Most of the crew joined us to watch the sky and listen to Woody sing the song he’d been writing since we left home. He called it ‘Talking Merchant Marine.’ He sang it as a talking blues…"
“Hot damn, Woody, that’s pretty good!” one of the gun-crew kids sang out. “Did you really write that?”
“Yup.”
“Did you write any others?”
“Yup.”
“How many?”
“Oh, not countin’ the ones I lost or threw away, ‘bout a thousand.”
This version of the song is from the soundtrack to the film "Woody Guthrie Hard Travelin'", and is performed by Ramblin' Jack Elliott.