ABSTRACT
In May 1941, Woody Guthrie wrote a cycle of songs for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) – a prestigious New Deal project intended to improve the infrastructure in the Columbia River Region. One of these songs was ‘Pastures of Plenty’ which has been called one of Guthrie’s finest pieces of poetry.1 A look at the lyrics quickly reveals that the song represents more than just social protest. While it focuses on the problems which migratory workers coming from the Dust Bowl region of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas had to face in California, it also praises the federal government for its endeavours to create jobs through the construction of dams in the Pacific Northwest.
