Old Man Trump by Ryan Harvey feat. Ani DiFranco and Tom Morello
Here’s a little story you may or may not be familiar with.
In the mid-20th Century, legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie was in the market for an apartment. He found one in Brooklyn, N.Y., signed a lease, and settled in. There was only one problem: the apartment building was owned by a real-estate bigwig and total slimeball named Fred Trump. Yes, the father of that other Trump, the one with weird hair and orange skin currently leading us all into the Apocalypse.
So Woody decided to write a song about it. But like many of his songs, Old Man Trump was never released under his name. It took Ryan Harvey, with some help from Ani DiFranco and Tom Morello, to put it to music and release it with what, really, couldn’t be better timing. This isn’t the first time a modern musician has written and performed musical accompaniment to unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics; back in the late 90’s, Wilco and Billy Bragg teamed up for a whole double-album of such material.
This rendition of Old Man Trump tips its hat to its lyrical author by occupying traditional folk stylings, albeit a somewhat modernized version of them. In the song, Woody expresses his disgust at the elder Trump’s unabashedly racist housing practices and exorbitant rent. Isn’t it just so inspiring to see a son follow in his father’s footsteps?
