Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that don't change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just about like trying to milk a dead cow.

During his later years in spite of his illness Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan. " Throughout his life Guthrie was associated with United States Communist groups though he was seemingly not a member of any.