Gonna Get Through This World

Album: Wonder Wheel (2006)
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Songfacts®:

  • Woody Guthrie wrote this song in 1945, but like many of the thousands of songs he composed, his version was never recorded. His lyrics survived and were documented by the Woody Guthrie Archives, and The Klezmatics put the words to music and recorded the song.
  • Guthrie's granddaughter Anna Canoni cites this as one of his lesser-known songs that deserves a listen. Says Anna: "Is it, I think, a mantra - it should be a mantra for everyone's life. The basic idea is, 'I'm gonna walk in this world, I'm gonna talk in this world, I'm gonna clean up this world, and then I'm gonna leave this world behind.' The idea of making an impact and then letting it go and leaving it behind. And it's not about physically who you were. It's about what you did. 'Gonna Get Through This World' is a gorgeous song." (Anna is a directore at the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives. Read more in her full interview. Learn much more at the official Woody Guthrie website.)

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