On Monday, former Cincinnati Red reliever Pedro Borbon passed away from cancer in Texas at the age of 65. Borbon, who was born in the Dominican Republic, was an important part of the Big Red Machine teams that won world champions in 1975 and 1976. He pitched in more games than any other Major League Baseball pitcher during the period of 1970-1978. He holds the record for most pitching appearances in a Reds uniform and is in the Reds Hall of Fame.
Growing up in southern Ohio in the 1970s, I was a big fan of the colorful Borbon on my Cincinnati Reds. Most baseball fans discover the sport as kids, and there is nothing like discovering the sport as your team is becoming one of the all-time greats. The Reds manager Sparky Anderson earned the nickname “Captain Hook” for pulling his starting pitchers so much in those days, and one of the reasons he could do so with confidence was because he had Borbon in the bullpen. During Borbon’s Reds’ career, he played in 20 post-season games with an ERA of 2.55.
Borbon had another claim to fame in that he was mentioned in the movie Airplane! (1980). In the film, Ted Striker (played by Robert Hays) is trying to concentrate while hearing voices in his head, including a public address announcer saying “Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon . . . Manny Mota.” From what I can tell, although Borbon had some short stints on a few other teams like the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, he never played on the same team as record-breaking pinch-hitter Manny Mota. The writers probably chose the Manny Mota reference because Mota was well-known as a pinch hitter, but I have not seen an explanation for why the writers chose Borbon among all the Major League pitchers. Perhaps they chose him because he was well-known, or because he was good, or maybe because he was a colorful character. Among other antics, during on-field brawls he used his teeth on a Mets hat and on Pirates player Daryl Patterson (who then had to get a tetanus shot).
Borbon’s son recently noted that his father often talked about the movie reference: “A lot of people remember him by that. He liked that.” At Borbon’s request, there is not going to be a memorial service in Texas. But I hope he does not mind that I thank him for the memories he gave me by playing the Airplane! clip that he liked. RIP.
It is hard to believe that it has been that long, but on June 11, 1982, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) first appeared in movie theaters. The film, directed by a 34-year-old Steven Spielberg and written by screenwriter Melissa Mathison, told the story of the children who found the little alien far away from home.
Reportedly, Spielberg drew on his own lonely experience as a child of divorce in telling the story. The movie featured excellent performances by child actors Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore.
One cannot dispute the classic status of E.T., although for some odd reason it only has a low 65% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, perhaps due to over-exposure through the years? Still, it has a stellar 98% critics rating.
Did you know that the original idea for the film was to have a family terrorized by an alien? Also, at one point Spielberg planned a sequel to E.T. with E.T. rescuing the family from other aliens.
Check out the video below for some trivia about the classic film.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the film, one writer noted similarities between Spielberg’s Poltergeist (1982) and E.T. Also, in celebration of the anniversary, a new specially remastered Blu-ray version of E.T.was released. It might be something to phone home about. Why do you think the film has such a low audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes? What is your favorite scene in E.T.? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The “viral video of the week” features everyone’s childhood friend, Fred Rogers. Symphony of Science’s mash up artist John Boswell put together a remix from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood to create a far-out song featuring the refrain, “Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind.” The video is an official production of PBS Digital Studios.
Even if you already thought Mr. Rogers had a psychedelic side, check out the video below.
The YouTube website promises that this video is the first of PBS icon remixes that will be released.
What PBS icon would you like to see remixed? Leave your two cents in the comments.
One of the highlights of NBC’s America’s Got Talent show this season so far was this week’s appearance by Andrew De Leon in the Austin, Texas auditions. As De Leon explains below, he has been treated as a bit of an outcast for his Goth looks and had never before sang in front of anyone. When he first opens his mouth to sing, the sound is so unexpected that you do not know whether it is going to be terrible or not. But then you realize that the guy can sing. Check out the video below (after a short commercial).
If you are wondering what he is singing, it is “O mio babbino caro” (“Oh My Beloved Father”) a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918) by Giacomo Puccini. You may read a short description of the context of the aria on NPR’s website, which also has an audio performance by opera singer Amada Squitieri.
As for De Leon’s performance, it is always a nice surprise when someone does something unexpected. As you can see in the video, judges Howie Mandel, Howard Stern and Sharon Osbourne all voted for De Leon to stay in the competition, so we will be seeing him again.
June 27, 2012 Update: After De Leon stumbled a bit from nerves in Las Vegas, the judges voted to eliminate him from the competition. I think the judges blew it. What do you think?
August 22, 2012 Update: He’s back! Howie Mandel brought De Leon back for the Wild Card show, where the judges brought back contestants for a second chance. De Leon delivered, and America voted for him to continue in the competition.
What did you think of Andrew De Leon’s performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Woody Guthrie wrote the classic song “This Land Is Your Land” as a response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”
On October 6, 2008 at Eastern Michigan University, as the U.S. faced a deep financial crisis, one of the country’s biggest living rock stars took the stage to sing on behalf of a United States presidential candidate. As Bruce Springsteen began strumming his guitar, the candidate stood in a tent behind the scenes with his family. The candidate, who would be elected the country’s first African-American president a month later, sang to his children and danced to the chorus of “This Land Is Your Land.”
“This Land Is Your Land,” along with “America the Beautiful,” is an unofficial national anthem. But this song that presidents sing — and that sometimes is sung in response to presidents’ actions — began as something different. It was written by a non-conforming down-and-out American troubadour more than seventy-five years earlier.
The Origins of “This Land Is Your Land”
Before “This Land Is Your Land” became a beloved American standard, it was a protest song. According to Joe Klein’s book Woody Guthrie: A Life, the 27-year-old Woody Guthrie began writing the song in 1940 out of anger and frustration.
At the time, Guthrie was living alone in a run-down hotel called Hanover House near Times Square in New York. He had moved there after wearing out his welcome as a house guest with singer-actor Will Geer and his wife Herta.
Having seen the struggles of common people across America, Guthrie turned his frustration on Irving Berlin’s portrayal of a perfect America in “God Bless America.” Radio disc jockeys repeatedly played Berlin’s song on the radio in the 1930s. In response, Guthrie began writing a song with the sarcastic title “God Blessed America”:
This land is your land, this land is my land, From California to Staten Island, From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters, God Blessed America for Me.
Guthrie wrote five more verses ending with the refrain “God Blessed America for me.” And one verse reported on the men and women standing in lines for food.
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple, By the relief office I saw my people — As they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me.
Guthrie continued to work on the song. He soon changed “Staten Island” in the refrain to “New York Island.”
The Music of “This Land Is Your Land”
As many folk singers did, Guthrie found the music for his words from existing songs. As he wrote the lyrics, he put them to the tune of the Carter Family’s “Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine.”
The Carter Family, though, did not originally write the music. They took the tune of “Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine” from an African-American spiritual and Baptist hymn they also performed.
The song, “Oh My Lovin’ Brother” is also known as “Hide Me Over in the Rock of Ages” and also “O My Lovin’ Brother When the World’s On Fire.” The hymn, which has been around so long there is no known author, is a warning the end of the world when worldly treasures will pass away and “poor lost sinners will be crying.”
The Creation of the Song We Know
After Guthrie finished “God Blessed America for Me” on February 23, 1940, he put the song away. The song then sat untouched for several years. According to Guthrie’s biographer Joe Klein, Guthrie forgot about the song and did not do anything with it for a long time.
Then, in April 1944, Guthrie began recording a large number of songs for record executive Moe Asch. During the last recording session that month, Guthrie pulled out the old protest song. By now, it had a new tag line and a new title, “This Land Is Your Land.”
The recorded version of “This Land Is Your Land” did not include the verse about the relief office. One may speculate about the reasons, but Guthrie may have made the changes for a nation at war. Or perhaps he no longer saw a need to respond to “God Bless America.”
The artist and the producers did not treat “This Land Is Your Land” any differently than the other songs recorded at the sessions. Asch did not have the money to release any of the songs. So, once again the song sat in limbo. Asch, however, later claimed he recognized something important in the song. (p. 285.)
By December of that year, Guthrie had started using “This Land” as the theme song for his weekly radio show on WNEW. And the Weavers recorded the song too.
Most early recordings by Guthrie and other artists omitted another controversial verse. The verse criticized capitalism and private property. It evoked a time when Guthrie and other Okies were turned away at the California border:
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me; Sign was painted, it said private property; But on the back side it didn’t say nothing; This land was made for you and me.
I like the way this version starts with Woody, and then it transitions into his son Arlo Guthrie and other singers. The song stays understated before becoming a joyous hoedown with John Mellencamp.
Bruce Springsteen has performed “This Land Is Your Land” for decades. He included it on his Live 1975-1985 box set. And he also performed it with Guthrie’s friend Pete Seeger at a special concert in Washington to celebrate Pres. Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
More recently, on February 5, 2017, Lada Gaga included “This Land Is Your Land” in her Super Bowl halftime performance. As the country seemed divided in recent weeks following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, Lady Gaga began with “God Bless America” and then went into “This Land Is Your Land.” Knowing that Guthrie wrote his song in response to “God Bless America” gives one a deeper understanding of Lady Gaga’s message about America.
Yet, I suspect many people who came of age around the 1960s first heard “This Land Is Your Land” sung by Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio, like many other artists, recognized that the song works best when everyone sings along.
The Legacy of “This Land Is Your Land”
“This Land is Your Land” took on a life of its own. And it no longer belongs to one person. For example, it can be used for discussion and criticized for its failure to connect the land to the Native Americans (although other artists have altered the song to do so). As noted in previous posts on Woody Guthrie, his work and his songs remain relevant today. Like Guthrie’s other songs, his most famous and timeless song, “This Land Is Your Land,” remains relevant too.
If Woody Guthrie had done nothing else besides write “This Land Is Your Land,” we would still honor him. “This Land Is Your Land” is the first song you think of when you think of the singer-songwriter. It is the song that ends every Guthrie tribute show. “This Land Is Your Land” is the song that David Carradine sings on top of a box car in the final scene of the Guthrie bio-pic Bound for Glory (1976). Also, it is the first song listed in Guthrie’s Wikipedia entry.
Additionally, “This Land Is Your Land” is the first Guthrie song you learned in school. And it is the song that Presidents dance to.
It all started with a relatively unknown drifter in the 1940s venting his anger and frustration in his lonely fleabag room. In that room, thinking about what he had seen traveling from California to the New York Island, Woody Guthrie wrote one of the country’s most beautiful songs.
{Woody at 100 is our continuing series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie on July 14, 1912. Check out our other posts on Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Centennial too. }
What is your favorite version of “This Land is Your Land”? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via public domain.
On Monday, former Cincinnati Red reliever Pedro Borbon passed away from cancer in Texas at the age of 65. Borbon, who was born in the Dominican Republic, was an important part of the Big Red Machine teams that won world champions in 1975 and 1976. He pitched in more games than any other Major League Baseball pitcher during the period of 1970-1978. He holds the record for most pitching appearances in a Reds uniform and is in the Reds Hall of Fame.
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