Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 29, 1948 |
| Type | Fire, originating in the left engine-driven fuel pump |
| Site | Diablo Mts., Coalinga, Fresno County, California, USA |
| Passengers | 29 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 32 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3, C-47B-40-DK Skytrain |
| Operator | Airline Transport Carriers (under contract with the INS) |
| Tail number | NC36480 |
"Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" is a protest song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie detailing the crash of a plane near Los Gatos Canyon [2] which in turn is near Coalinga, California in Fresno County, California, United States, on January 29, 1948 and what Guthrie considered the racist mistreatment of the passengers before and after the accident. The crash resulted in the deaths of four Americans and 28 illegal immigrant farm workers who were being deported from California back to Mexico.
Contents |
[edit] History
Guthrie was reportedly struck by the fact that radio and newspaper coverage of the event did not give the victims' names, but referred to them merely as "deportees." He responded with a poem, assigning symbolic names to the dead: "Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita; adiós, mis amigos, Jesús y María..." In contrast, the flight crew and the security guard were named in the New York Times report. [3]
The Mexican victims of the accident were placed in a mass grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno, California. There were 27 men and one woman, and only 12 were ever identified. The grave is 84 feet by 7 feet, two rows of caskets and not all bodies were buried the first day, but the caskets at the site did have an overnight guard.[4]
The opening lines of the song:
"The crops are all in, the peaches are rottening, The oranges are piled in their creosote dumps"
are another protest by Guthrie. At the time, government policies paid farmers to destroy their crops in order to keep farm production and prices high.[citation needed] Guthrie felt that it was wrong to render food inedible by poisoning it in a world where hungry people lived.
[edit] Music
Guthrie's poem was set to music a decade later by a schoolteacher named Martin Hoffman. The song was popularized at the time by Pete Seeger, although most contemporary versions follow the sparse southwestern version by the Byrds on their 1969 LP, Ballad of Easy Rider.
[edit] Selected discography
The song has been covered by a multitude of artists:
- Dave Guard and the Whiskey Hill Singers on Dave Guard and the Whiskey Hill Singers (1962)
- The Kingston Trio on Time To Think (1963)
- Cisco Houston on Cisco Sings the Songs of Woody Guthrie (1963)
- Judy Collins on Judy Collins #3 (1964)
- The Byrds on the Ballad of Easy Rider (1969)
- Joan Baez on Blessed Are... (1971), and live on Bowery Songs (2004)
- Arlo Guthrie on Arlo Guthrie (1974) and with Pete Seeger on Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger: Together in Concert (1975)
- Dolly Parton on 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs (1981)
- Sweet Honey in the Rock on The Other Side (1985)
- Christy Moore on, Spirit of Freedom (1985)
- John Stewart "Illegals/Deportee Medley" on Secret Tapes 1984-'87 (Disc 1 - 1986)
- Billy Bragg on Talking with the Taxman about Poetry extended edition
- Hoyt Axton on Hard Travelin' (1986)
- The Highwaymen on Highwayman (1985)
- Peter, Paul and Mary on Lifelines (1995) and Lifelines Live (1996)
- Concrete Blonde on Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals (1997)
- Nanci Griffith with an ensemble including Lucinda Williams, Tish Hinojosa, Odetta, Steve Earle, and John Stewart on Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (1998)
- Los Super Seven on Los Super Seven (1998).
- Bruce Springsteen on 'Til We Outnumber 'Em (2000)
- Ox on Dust Bowl Revival (2003)
- Barbara Dane on Classic Folk Music From Smithsonian Folkways (2004)
- The Battlefield Band on The Road of Tears (2006)
- Roy Brown Ramírez, Tito Auger, and Tao Rodríguez-Seeger on Que Vaya Bien (2006) (Spanish)
- Richard Shindell on, South of Delia (2007)
- Paddy Reilly [6] on Paddy Reilly, The Very Best Of
- Old Crow Medicine Show on Song of America (2007)
[edit] External links
- lyrics at woodyguthrie.org
- Check-Six.com - The "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" Canyon - (includes full passenger and crew list)
- A description of the DC3 aircraft crash site at picacho.org, presented by Three Rocks Research. (includes text of the New York Times Article)
[edit] Notes
- ^ The "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" Canyon description at Check-Six.com
- ^ The wreck occurred in Los Gatos Canyon, not in the town of Los Gatos (which is in Santa Clara County, approximately 150 miles away).
- ^ New York Times January 29, 1948, (as cited by picacho.org)
- ^ Fresno Bee, 1 February 1948
- ^ The Ballad of Easy Rider page from "Byrd Watcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles"
- ^ Paddy Reilly singing "Deportees" live in concert on youtube
