The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, “They are just deportees”

“Deportee – Plane Wreck at Los Gatos” is a song about the deaths of 28 migrant farm workers in a plane crash in 1948. The workers were part of the U.S.-Mexico “Bracero” program, whereby Mexican farm workers could come to the U.S to work in the fields and then be returned to Mexico after the work contract was done.

Woody Guthrie is generally thought of as the writer of the song. He wrote the lyrics as a poem; the melody was written a decade later by Martin Hoffman, a schoolteacher; and the song was popularized by Peter Seeger.

Guthrie was spurred to write this because none of the crash victim’s names were printed in the New York Times article that he’d read. That article referred to the people who died as “deportees.” In actuality, the local newspaper, The Fresno Bee, did have extensive coverage of the tragedy and did print all the known names of those who died in the crash, but Guthrie would not have been aware of the this. In addition to the 28 farmworkers, 4 Americans also were killed.

The crash occurred near Los Gatos Canyon, west of Coalinga in Fresno County — and not near the town of Los Gatos, which is south of San Jose.

The opening lines of the song — “The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting / The oranges piled in their creosote dumps” — are another protest by Guthrie. Farmers were paid by the government to destroy their crops in order to keep farm prices high. Guthrie felt that it was wrong to destroy food by poisoning it in a world where hungry people lived.

The song has been recorded and sung in concert by dozens of performers, including from Pete Singer, Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Byrds, and lots more. A partial list of musicians who have covered the song is below.

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

by Woody Guthrie & Martin Hoffman

Peter Seeger

Judy Collins

Judy Collins – A tribute to Woody Guthrie

Arlo Guthrie. Live at Farm Aid. 2000.

Arlo Guthrie with Emmylou Harris. Live, audio only.

Bruce Springsteen – May, 2021. Solo, live.

Bruce Springsteen. Live, August 1981. Audio only.

Los Texmaniacs featuring Lyle Lovett

Joan Baez. Live at the 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Joan Baez performs “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) onstage with Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Indigo Girls.

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. 1976 Rolling Thunder Review. Live.

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Live.  Audio only.

Joni Mitchell — Live in Toronto, October 1964. Audio only.

Ani DiFranco & Ry Cooder

.

The song has been recorded by many artists, including:

• ​Pete Seeger
• Judy Collins on Judy Collins #3 (1964), and the live album A Tribute to Woody Guthrie (1972).
• The Byrds on the Ballad of Easy Rider (1969).
• Los Texmaniacs featuring Lyle Lovett
• Joan Baez on Blessed Are… (1971) and live on Bowery Songs (2004).
• Bob Dylan and Joan Baez during the 2nd Part of the Rolling Thunder Revue (1976).
• Bruce Springsteen on ‘Til We Outnumber ‘Em (2000).
• Odetta on album Odetta Sings of Many Things (1964).
• Joni Mitchell: a 1964 live recording on the Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967) (2020)
• Arlo Guthrie on Arlo Guthrie (1974) and with Pete Seeger on Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger: Together in Concert (1975).
• Joan Baez on her 4 Voices Tour with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Indigo Girls(2017).
• Joan Baez on her final global Fare Thee Well tour (2018-2019).
• The Kingston Trio on Time To Think (1963).
• David Carradine on Bound for Glory (motion picture soundtrack) (1976).
• Dolly Parton on 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs (1980).
• Sweet Honey in the Rock on The Other Side (1985).
• Cisco Houston on Cisco Sings the Songs of Woody Guthrie (1963).
• Hoyt Axton on Hard Travelin’ (1986).
• Gene Clark on So Rebellious a Lover (1987), with Carla Olson.
• Peter, Paul and Mary on Lifelines (1995) and Lifelines Live (1996).
• Nanci Griffith with an ensemble including Lucinda Williams, Tish Hinojosa, Odetta, Steve Earle, and John Stewart on Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (1998).
• Billy Bragg on Talking with the Taxman about Poetry extended edition (2006).
• Tish Hinojosa in After the Fair (2013; in Spanish).
• Dave Guard and the Whiskey Hill Singers (featuring Judy Henske) on Dave Guard and the Whiskey Hill Singers (1962).
• Julie Felix on her first album Julie Felix (1964).
• The Brothers Four on Sing of Our Times (1964).
• Paddy Reilly on The Life of Paddy Reilly (1971).
• Nana Mouskouri in a French translation with title “Adieu mes amis” on Le Tournesol (1970).
• The Bergerfolk on The Bergerfolk Sing For Joy, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (1973).
• Barbara Dane on I Hate the Capitalist System (1973).
• Edoardo Bennato on Naiadi summer (1975).
• Max Boyce on The Road and the Miles (1977).
• Christy Moore on, The Spirit of Freedom (1985).
• The Highwaymen, with Johnny Rodriguez, on Highwayman (1985).
• Christina Lindberg on Stanna stanna (1985), in as “Flyktingarna” (“The Refugees”) with lyrics by Jens Lizel.[8]
• Rory McLeod on Woody Lives!’ (1987).
• James Talley on Woody Guthrie and Songs of my Oklahoma Home recorded 1994 released 1999
• Concrete Blonde on Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals (1997).
• Los Super Seven on Los Super Seven (1998).
• Svante Karlsson on American Songs as “Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos/Goodbye Juan)” (1999).
• Ox on Dust Bowl Revival (2003).
• Derek Warfield and the Wolfe Tones on 50 Great Irish Rebel Songs and Ballads (2005).
• Joe Jencks Rise As One (2005).
• The Battlefield Band on The Road of Tears (2006).
• Roy Brown Ramírez, Tito Auger, and Tao Rodríguez-Seeger on Que Vaya Bien (2006; in Spanish).
• Richard Shindell on, South of Delia (2007).
• Old Crow Medicine Show on Song of America (2007).
• Joel Rafael on “Joel Rafael The Songs of Woody Guthrie Vol. 1 & 2” (2008).
• John Stewart “Illegals/Deportee Medley” on Secret Tapes 1984-87 (2009).
• Tim Broadbent on “Crisis” (2011).
• Dan Bern on Live in New York (2011).
• John McCutcheon on This Land: Woody Guthrie’s America (2011).
• Outernational and Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman on Todos Somos Ilegales (2011).
• Deacon Blue on The Rest (2012).
• KT Tunstall as part of ONE’s agit8 campaign (2013).
• Tim Z. Hernandez with Lance Canales & the Flood as a single (2013).
• The Last Internationale on “This Bootleg Kills… Vol. 1” (2015).
• Lance Canales on The Blessing And The Curse (2015).[9]
• Sneezy Waters and his Very Fine Band on Live (2017).
• Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore on Downey to Lubbock (2018).
• Jeb Loy Nichols on his album The United States of the Broken Hearted (2022)