Message

The message of the song is that even with all odds against you, you can still persevere.

To me, this is a surprisingly optimistic message for such bleed, depressing time period.

Historical Context

Music has changed.

The song “Dust Can’t Kill Me” fits into the 1930’s period of our history. This was the time of the Dust Bowl and the much suffering that occurred from famous being “tractor off their land” and forced to move far west.

Influence on Artists Today

Many artists became inspired and heavily influenced by Guthrie’s works. Famous artists of this nature included Bruce Springsteen (a personal fav) and Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan had many critically acclaimed protest songs that became anthems for rallies everywhere (civil rights, anti-war movements)

Contemporary artists still incorporate feelings about events into their songs. Lana Del Rey does a little less and focuses on writing songs out of whimsy (i.e. “Summertime Sadness”, “Born to Die” and Young and Beautiful”) Sometimes she does take stances on things like in her song “High by the Beach”.