You and Me and Cisco Know

Cisco

Folksinger Gilbert Vandine “Cisco” Houston was born in Wilmington, Delaware on August 18, 1918.  Houston is probably best-known for his work with Woody Guthrie, but he also performed with artists like Lead Belly and the Almanac Singers.

Houston had a great voice and was a wonderful interpreter of traditional songs and folk songs written by others.  But he also wrote some songs and worked for good causes with Guthrie, touring migrant camps and supporting workers’ rights.

Houston died at a relatively young age from stomach cancer in California on April 29, 1961.  Below Houston sings “The Preacher and the Slave (Pie in the Sky),” a song written by activist and songwriter Joe Hill.

Although Cisco Houston is not remembered as well as some of his contemporaries, he has always been respected by other folk singers.

Houston is referenced in a number of songs, including Steve Earle’s “Christmas in Washington (Come Back Woody Guthrie).” In that song, Earle laments, “To listen to the radio / You’d think that all was well / But you and me and Cisco know / It’s going straight to hell.”

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    Christmas in Washington: A Song About Heroes

    Steve Earle Austin

    Merry Christmas to our readers who celebrate the holiday.  Today’s Christmas song is “Christmas in Washington” by Steve Earle.  The song first appeared on his El Corazón (1997) album, which is one of my all-time favorite records.

    As Earle explains in this Austin, Texas performance from 2000, the song is about some of his heroes.  Written in the wake of President Bill Clinton’s election in 1996, Earle explains his longing for real progressive change.  He invokes the names of people like Woody Guthrie, Emma Goldman, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

    It has been more than twenty years since Earle wrote the song.  But it seems even more timely this holiday season.

    There’s foxes in the hen house;
    Cows out in the corn;
    The unions have been busted,
    Their proud red banners torn;
    To listen to the radio
    You’d think that all was well;
    But you and me and Cisco know
    It’s going straight to hell.

    Happy holidays.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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