Old Judge Thayer

Album: Ballads Of Sacco & Vanzetti (1945)
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Songfacts®:

  • Webster Thayer was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts in 1917; he died in 1933, 12 years or so before Woody Guthrie penned this unflattering ditty.

    "Old Judge Thayer" is one of the songs Guthrie wrote for his Ballads Of Sacco & Vanzetti. Its reference to the cap not fitting Sacco's head is reminiscent of the glove in the OJ Simpson trial and the retort "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit." But in the case of Sacco & Vanzetti, it didn't work: the two were eventually sent to the electric chair. (Thanks, Alexander Baron - London, England. For more on Guthrie, see our interview with his granddaughter Anna Canoni.) >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England. For more on Guthrie, see our interview with his granddaughter Anna Canoni.

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