this is tour land

This Land Is Your Land: The Story Behind America's Best-Known Protest Song

By kenneth partridge | feb 23, 2020, 9:00 am est.

Few songs are more ingrained in the American psyche than "This Land Is Your Land," the greatest and best-known work by folk icon Woody Guthrie. For decades, it's been a staple of kindergarten classrooms "from California to the New York island," as the lyrics go. It's the musical equivalent of apple pie, though the flavor varies wildly depending on who's doing the singing.

On its most basic level, "This Land Is Your Land" is a song about inclusion and equality—the American ideal broken down into simple, eloquent language and set to a melody you memorize on first listen. The underlying message, repeated throughout the song, makes the heart swell: "This land was made for you and me."

But there's more to "This Land Is Your Land" than many people realize—two verses more, in fact. Guthrie's original 1940 draft of the song contains six verses, two of which carry progressive political messages that add nuance to the song's overt patriotism. These controversial verses are generally omitted from children's songbooks and the like, but they speak volumes about Guthrie's mindset when he put pen to paper 80 years ago.

Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" in a divey hotel room in New York City. He'd just landed in Manhattan after years of rambling across the country and meeting impoverished people affected by the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Throughout his travels in the late '30s, Guthrie was haunted by Kate Smith's hit recording of Irving Berlin 's "God Bless America." Guthrie found Berlin's song to be jingoistic and out of touch with the reality facing many of his fellow citizens. So he set about writing a response.

Guthrie originally titled his rejoinder "God Blessed America"—emphasis on the past tense—but eventually changed his tone. Instead of doing a sarcastic parody, he wrote a song that pulls double-duty, celebrating America's natural splendor while criticizing the nation for falling short of its promise. In the "lost" fourth verse, Guthrie decries the notion of private property, suggesting America is being carved up by the wealthy:

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me. The sign was painted, said: 'Private Property.' But on the backside, it didn't say nothing. This land was made for you and me.

The sixth and final verse in the original manuscript references the poor folks Guthrie saw living on government assistance during the Great Depression:

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple, By the relief office I saw my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me?

When Guthrie first recorded the song in 1944, he included the verse about private property but left out the one about the relief office. That original recording was lost until the '90s, however, so for years, all anyone knew was the version Guthrie recorded for 1951's Songs to Grow On . Guthrie's rendition on that album features neither the "no trespassing" verse nor the one about the relief office, which he never actually recorded.

It's unclear why the 1944 recording with the "private property" verse was never released, or why Guthrie edited out the radical stuff for the 1951 version. (He also chopped out both controversial verses when he first published the lyrics in the 1945 pamphlet Ten of Woody Guthrie's Songs .) It may have had something to do with the mounting anti-communist furor that would lead to the Red Scare of the late '40s and early '50s. As a pro-union communist sympathizer, Guthrie and his fellow rabble-rousing folky buddy Pete Seeger had already faced industry blacklisting in the early '40s.

"We did one program on CBS Radio, and a newspaper reported out, said, 'Red minstrels try to get on the networks,'" Seeger told NPR . "And that was the last job we got."

Regardless of which verses are included, "This Land Is Your Land" is terrific for singing. That was by design. Guthrie likely stole the melody from the Carter Family's 1935 tune " Little Darling , Pal of Mine," which itself was patterned after an old gospel hymn titled " When the World's On Fire" (sometimes called " Oh, My Loving Brother "). "This Land" was a perfect fit for classrooms and campsites, where the song would take on new life.

In the early '50s, famed American folklorist Alan Lomax came up with a nifty plan for preserving the nation's musical heritage. He approached legendary music publisher Howie Richmond with the idea of including rural folk songs—the kind he'd been documenting for the Library of Congress—in school music textbooks. Richmond , who had become Guthrie's publisher in 1950, loved the idea, and to sweeten the deal for textbook publishers, he lowered his usual licensing rates and offered "This Land Is Your Land" for just $1.

That's how "This Land Is Your Land" went viral and became nearly as ubiquitous as the national anthem, even without the radio play and jukebox real estate of Smith's "God Bless America." While the versions distributed to America's impressionable youth lacked "no trespassing" and "relief office" verses, the song's original lyrics were never forgotten. Following Guthrie's death in 1967, artists like Seeger continued performing the "lost verses," lest people forget the anger that inspired the song.

But regardless of Guthrie's intentions, "This Land Is Your Land" has come to mean different things to different people. That's part of what makes it so timeless. When President Ronald Reagan used the song at his victory party in 1984, after it had been used by Walter Mondale's campaign, both sides were probably trying to evoke feel-good patriotism. The same goes for Reagan's advisors and allies who were invoking Bruce Springsteen's " Born in the U.S.A. " during rallies and in newspaper articles. Reagan himself name-checked Springsteen and his "message of hope" during a rally in Hammonton, New Jersey. The president either didn't know or didn't care that "Born in the U.S.A." was another song about loving your country but hating how poorly it treats some of its citizens.

Ironically, the Boss had begun performing "This Land Is Your Land" in the early '80s. On the version included on the Live 1975–85 box set, Springsteen gives his audience the backstory about Irving Berlin and refers to "This Land" as "just about one of the most beautiful songs ever written." And, when given the opportunity to perform the song with Pete Seeger at Barack Obama's pre-inauguration concert in 2009, he readily agreed to sing all the verses at Seeger's insistence.

Over the years, "This Land Is Your Land" has been covered by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who performed the song in Zuccotti Park during an Occupy Wall Street protest in 2011. Lady Gaga sang a snippet to open her Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, causing fans and critics to speculate about whether she was making a political statement. She mashed it up with "God Bless America," so it's a safe bet she knew the history of the song.

There may be even more officially recorded versions in years to come. Much like what has been done with ubiquitous songs like "Happy Birthday" and " We Shall Overcome " (which Seeger toured with and taught across the country at rallies and protests throughout the '50s and '60s), there is a push to have "This Land Is Your Land" enter the public domain. The Brooklyn rock band Satorii filed a lawsuit in 2016 challenging the copyrights held by the Richmond Organization and its subsidiary, Ludlow Music, and maintain that since Guthrie only wrote the lyrics and not that pilfered melody, he shouldn't have been able to register the song in the first place, nor should Ludlow have been able to own the copyright. The suit is ongoing.

Whether it enters the public domain, as one imagines Guthrie would have wanted, or doesn't, "This Land Is Your Land" isn't going anywhere. The song has been adopted and modified by Native Americans, Swedish anti-Nazi troubadours, and people all over the globe who find truth and comfort in Guthrie's words, however they choose to interpret them.

"The whole idea of a land is your spot on Earth, you know," Woody's daughter Nora told NPR. "A spot where you can claim safety, sanity."

Woody Guthrie Lyrics

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• United States

This Land is Your Land The story behind the song

Today, this classic folk song is usually sung as a popular pro-America anthem by Americans of every background. But it was written to have a radical edge that hollered for the country to make its bounty available to rich and poor alike.

Lesson Content

Not that song.

Folk singer Woody Guthrie was sick of THAT song. The year was 1939, and everywhere he wandered, “ God Bless America ” was playing on the radio. It was driving Guthrie nutty. Guthrie felt that Irving Berlin’s song was too sappy, too blindly patriotic, and too cut off from the hard-knock life many Americans were facing as the Great Depression dragged into its 10th year. Guthrie knew firsthand how tough life could be for poor folks. Since his teens, he had hopped trains and hitchhiked back and forth across the country. He shared the road with former farmers, laid-off factory workers, and migrants chasing hopes of work. Along the way, he chronicled their adventures, dreams, and sorrows in song.

In February 1940, Guthrie decided to fight music with music. In reaction to “God Bless America,” he worked up a simple song that tried to capture his love of the American landscape. At the same time, he wanted to point out that a lot of Americans weren’t feeling blessed at all.

This is the story behind “This Land is Your Land.” 

“This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie 

This land is your land, this land is my land  from california to the new york island;  from the red wood forest to the gulf stream waters  this land was made for you and me.  as i was walking that ribbon of highway,  i saw above me that endless skyway:  i saw below me that golden valley:  this land was made for you and me.  i've roamed and rambled and i followed my footsteps  to the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;  and all around me a voice was sounding:  this land was made for you and me.  when the sun came shining, and i was strolling,  and the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,  as the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:  this land was made for you and me.  as i went walking i saw a sign there  and on the sign it said "no trespassing."  but on the other side it didn't say nothing,  that side was made for you and me.  in the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steeple,  by the relief office i seen my people;  as they stood there hungry, i stood there asking  is this land made for you and me  nobody living can ever stop me,  as i go walking that freedom highway;  nobody living can ever make me turn back  this land was made for you and me. , woody guthrie.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in the small town of Okemah, Oklahoma, on July 14, 1912. Named for the soon-to-be-elected Democratic candidate for president, Guthrie remembered an early boyhood full of music, singing, and plenty of pocket money. His dad was a successful real estate wheeler-dealer. The Guthries were the first people in town to own a car.

Tragedy and trouble began to mount after 1919. Guthrie’s sister died in a fire and his dad’s business collapsed. His mom had a nervous breakdown and was committed to the state mental hospital. He and his brother were left to fend for themselves.

The teenager began to travel the country, strumming his guitar and singing for coins. As he wandered, he became increasingly critical of the injustice he associated with American capitalism. He was drawn toward the plight of American workers and embraced socialist beliefs. During World War II, though, he served in the Merchant Marine and U.S. Army. He entertained sailors and troops with songs blasting fascism, the brutal, nationalistic system of government operated by Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini.

Guthrie viewed folk music as a potent means of protest. About his writing and singing he said:

"I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you."

Guthrie died of Huntington’s disease in 1967, but not before inspiring a new generation of singer/songwriters including Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen.

Lost Verses

Guthrie originally titled the song “God Blessed America For Me”—words that also served as the last line of each verse. He meant it as a slap at Berlin’s hit number, making it clear that he didn’t think God was the solution to America’s problems.

By the time he debuted the song on his weekly radio show in 1944, Guthrie had revised the title to “This Land is Your Land.” He reworked the last line of each verse to a friendlier, “This land was made for you and me.” He also nixed the two most controversial verses, verses that accused the American system of business of greed and disregard for the needy.

As I went walking I saw a sign there  And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”  But on the other side it didn't say nothing,  That side was made for you and me. In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,  By the relief office I seen my people;  As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking  Is this land made for you and me?

With those two verses gone, any American could sing “This Land is Your Land” without fretting if they were questioning America’s greatness. Its simple melody and picture-painting lyrics made it fun and easy for kids to learn. It remains one of the all-time, all-American favorites. (Ironically, “God Bless America” and “This Land is Your Land” are often performed together in school programs and on albums of patriotic songs.)

More recently, a growing number of singers have dusted off Guthrie’s preferred lyrics. In 2009, rocker Bruce Springsteen and folk legend Pete Seeger sang it from start to finish as part of President Barack Obama’s inaugural celebration.

Pete Seeger & Bruce Springsteen This Land is Your Land Obama Inauguration

Guthrie’s original vision—calling for an America that is big, beautiful, but also compassionate—is again being sung as he intended.

Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center | June 2013 | PBS

Sean McCollum

Lisa Resnick

September 17, 2019

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This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

Songfacts®:

• Originally titled "God Blessed America," Guthrie wrote this as a parody of Irving Berlin's " God Bless America ." When Guthrie started writing the song in 1940, the last line in the chorus was "God blessed America for me," which Guthrie eventually changed into "This land was made for you and me." It evolved into a protest anthem as generations of folk singers performed the song, but it is often misinterpreted as a patriotic song. The lyrics express Guthrie's belief that the working class should have the same rights as the rich.
• Anna Canoni is Guthrie's granddaughter and a director at the Woody Guthrie Foundation. She considers this one of Guthrie's most powerful songs. Anna told us: "It's the most famous, but there's a reason why it's the most famous. I think that often people will just look at the words on the surface and not really look into what he's talking about. But when Woody wrote, he wrote in double entendres, and sometimes triple. And there's enough to keep you thinking. I think his music was really to keep you thinking and start up a conversation. It wasn't just something nice to listen to, it's something that needs to be said to begin a discussion. And I would define that as great songwriting. So 'This Land Is Your Land' would fit into that."
• Guthrie got the melody for this song from a Carter Family tune called "When the World's on Fire." Canoni explains: "He wrote music and he could play a ton of different instruments, but his strength was certainly his lyric writing. He would often borrow tunes. As Woody put it, 'Well, if they already know the tune, they're halfway to knowing the song.' The Carter Family was certainly a big influence on him. He always loved the idea of having a family band. His mother was his other main music influence, she used to sing these old Scotch-Irish ballads. And you could even see on the lyrics that he even wrote - he wrote "To the tune of..." and he would reference either another song he'd written or one by someone else." (Thanks to Anna Canoni for speaking with us about this song. Read more in her full interview . Learn much more at the official Woody Guthrie website .)
• Guthrie started writing this song in 1940 when he hitchhiked his way from Los Angeles to New York City. Along the way, "God Bless America" was playing in jukeboxes across the country, which is where he got the idea to parody the song.
• Guthrie didn't record the song until 1944, and he changed the lyrics over the years, performing it many different ways. It was not released until 1949 when a small company called Folkways Recording Company issued the disc. This version became the one picked up by other folk singers and often sung in schools and summer camps, and is by far the best known rendition of the song. Earlier performances by Guthrie contained more verses, including lyrics about seeing a "No Trespassing" sign, but realizing that there was nothing written on the other side of the sign, and that side was the one made for you and me.
• Thanks to a legal snafu, this song is (somewhat fittingly) in the public domain. Most of Guthrie's songs have had their copyrights renewed, keeping them locked down for 95 years after the date they were first published. "This Land Is Your Land," however, wasn't registered until 1956, and the owner of that copyright, Ludlow Music, renewed that copyright in 1984 (law at the time stated that a copyright had to be renewed after 28 years). Guthrie published the song in 1945 when he created a pamphlet with the words and music and sold it as sheet music. This means that the copyright was up for renewal in 1973, not 1984, so the Ludlow copyright was not valid. This was only discovered in 2004 when the website JibJab created an animation using the song in a comedy bit with caricatures of the presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry. When Ludlow tried to enforce their copyright, JibJab fought it, claiming they were allowed to use the song, since it was satire. When the case was made public, the Electronic Frontier Foundation discovered Guthrie's 1945 pamphlet and figured out that Ludlow didn't own the rights. Thus it was discovered that this song is free for you and me (as long as you record an original version).
• Pete Seeger was good friends with Guthrie and often performed with him. Seeger played this song many times, often with Guthrie's omitted verses. Seeger says that when he first heard the song, he considered it one of Woody's lesser efforts, but he came to realize that the simplicity of the song gave it such a wide appeal, and that this simplicity is what makes the song brilliant. When Seeger performed the song, he would sometimes call out the lyrics line by line just before singing them so the audience would know what to sing along.
• Bruce Springsteen covered this on his boxed set Live 1975-1985 . After having " Born In The U.S.A. " misinterpreted by politicians as a patriotic anthem, this song had special relevance to him. Other artists who recorded the song include Tennessee Ernie Ford, Lee Greenwood, The Kingston Trio, Trini Lopez, The New Christy Minstrels, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Woody's son Arlo Guthrie.
• Ronald Reagan used lyrics from this song in a speech as part of his 1984 re-election campaign. Considering this the height of hypocrisy, Bruce Springsteen started performing it, trying to get Guthrie's message across.
• This gained renewed popularity after the 2001 terrorist attacks on America. Many artists performed it in an effort to bring people together after the tragedy.
• At Resurrection City, the Washington, D.C. shantytown set up as part of the Poor People's Campaign in 1968, Pete Seeger and an Afro-American singer named Jimmy Collier were about to sing this. Lakotah spiritual leader Henry Crow Dog came up and poked Collier in the chest saying "Hey, you're both wrong. It belongs to me." Collier respectfully asked "Should we not sing it?" Crow Dog smiled and replied "No, it's okay. Go ahead and sing it. As long as we are all down here together to get something done!" Seeger was profoundly affected by the incident and spoke of it often, saying he had a hard time performing the song after that. Each time he played it, he would repeat the story about Chief Crow Dog and add a verse about the theft of Indian land, composed by activist Carolyn "Cappy" Israel. >> Suggestion credit : Ekristheh - Halath
• In 2005, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (who backed Amy Winehouse on the songs " Rehab " and " You Know I'm No Good ") recorded a very soulful version of this song that was used to open the 2009 film Up In The Air , where it accompanied scenes from an airplane's point of view.
• My Morning Jacket recorded this song in 2014 for use in a commercial for The North Face apparel . The ad shows various outdoor adventurers (including distance runner Dean Karnazes and mountain climber Hilaree O'Neill) in different photogenic landscapes. The full version of the song was released as a single on iTunes, with proceeds going to the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps, which is dedicated to preserving and restoring public land.
• A version performed by the Nashville singer Marc Scibilia, best known for his 2010 song " How Bad We Need Each Other ," plays throughout a 90-second commercial for the Jeep Renegade that debuted during the 2015 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. The spot, titled "Beautiful Lands," is filled with striking scenery from around the world with the tagline: "The World Is a Gift. Play Responsibly." The spot was the most Shazam-ed moment of the game and gave Scibilia a nice boost. Unfortunately, his label, IRS Records, shut down later that year.
• In the 2016 season, the Baltimore Orioles started a tradition of playing this song during the seventh inning stretch of every Friday night home game as part of their "Community Heroes" program where they honor local citizens who have done good deeds. This time is typically reserved for an overtly patriotic song, but the team wanted to represent a different viewpoint. "There is a strain of progressivism in American life, and if we can reflect it, I think that's a good thing," said John Angelos, the team's chief operating officer. This came at a time when tensions were running high in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray, who was killed while in police custody. Later in 2016, pro football players began protesting police treatment of minorities by demonstrating during the national anthem. The Orioles followed tradition by playing " America The Beautiful " on Saturdays and " God Bless America " on Sundays.
• Lady Gaga opened her 2017 Super Bowl halftime show by singing a verse of "God Bless America" followed by a verse from "This Land Is Your Land," creating an intriguing mashup of patriotism and protest that got even more interesting when she recited part of the Pledge of Allegiance. Then she jumped from the top of the stadium and delivered a hit-filled spectacle.
• At the 2021 US presidential inauguration, Jennifer Lopez sang "This Land Is Your Land" followed by " America The Beautiful " before Joe Biden took the oath of office.
• More songs from Woody Guthrie
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• More songs performed at the Super Bowl
• More singalong songs
• More songs in the public domain
• More songs that are spoofs, satires or parodies
• More songs covered by Bruce Springsteen
• More songs from 1944
• Lyrics to This Land Is Your Land
• Woody Guthrie Artistfacts

Comments: 19

• Sue from Usa Midwest I love the information provided and the perspectives covered of how the song was received. SIRI provided me this page when I asked about a movie in which the only details I can remember are: it starred a Quaid (Dennis or Randy) portraying woody, this song is in the movie and it has the word Bound in the title Anyway love and appreciate the work you have put into this. Small enhancement suggestion would be add any film connections Thanks Sue
• Rick from America Woodie Guthrie was a communist.
• Michael from Vienna (austria) Let me first tell you that English is not my mother tongue, so please don't critisize me if my command of that language is not perfect. However I have always thought that the lyrics of this song are stupid and are written by somebody with absolutely no gift for poetry. I have never heard of "The New York Island" and I have the feeling that Guthrie just put in, because he needed something on the East Coast to rhyme with "my land". And as far I know "footsteps" does not rhyme with "deserts". Of course I know that good poetry - which this is song isn't! - does not need to rhyme, but it looks as if Guthrie wants to rhyme, but isn't able to.
• Harvey Wachtel from Kew Gardens, Ny I think that although the lyrics suggest this song is about land, it's actually a socialist anthem against greed in general. There's no way the Native Americans, victims of territory-greedy settlers, are going to get their ancestral land back, but they are nevertheless part of the "we" that Guthrie says the land now belongs to. Well, at least Bernie has rescued the word "socialism" from the Bolsheviks. We may get there someday.
• Harvey Wachtel from Kew Gardens, Ny @echo: Please understand I'm not trying to troll or contradict your post; As someone interested in but not too knowledgeable about music theory, I'm genuinely curious about your reaction to the common melodic variation on the second syllable of "waters". Why do you dislike it? Is it only because it's a variation, do you feel that it detracts from the spirit of the melody, or what? Thanks.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On March 24th 1963, Peter, Paul & Mary's second studio album, 'Moving', peaked at #2* {for 1 week} on Billboard's Top LP Albums chart; the week it was at #2, the #1 album for that week was 'Songs I Sing On The Jackie Gleason Show' by Frank Fontaine... Track six of side one on the album was the trio's covered version of "This Land Is Your Land"... * After the album spent its one week at #2, it stayed at #3 for the next four weeks.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On February 23rd 1940, Woody Guthrie, while in his room at the Hanover House Hotel in New York City, wrote the lyrics to "This Land Is Your Land"... In 1962 two covered versions of the song entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and both debut on the same day, The New Christy Minstrels at #93 and Ketty Lester at #97, and both also remained on the chart for just one week... The song is a favorite of Bruce Springsteen; between 1980 and 2013 he had performed the song in 107 different concerts.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On December 1st, 1962, Ketty Lester's covered version of the song entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart for a one week stay, at position 97.
• Sarx from Tucson, Az In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office - I see my people And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin' If this land's still made for you and me. As true today as when he wrote them.
• Ekristheh from Halath, United States I've always been bothered a little by this song because despite knowing he did not mean it this way at all, it makes me ask -- who are "you and me?" What about the Indians? This makes the "patriotic" misinterpretation even more perfidious. While, of course, the original lyrics convey an Indian belief that no one owns land. This was the only Indian lyric I could find, but I am sure there are more. "This land is your land, but it once was my land -- until we sold you Manhattan Island. You pushed our nations to the reservations -- this land was stole by you from me."
• Kody from Martinsville, In Tom Morrelo From rage against the machine also does a cover of this song on his solo stuff (the nightwatchmen) he commented on how it was popular for children in school where they only use the 1st verse and leave out everything else , making the song appear completely what it isn't. and i agree
• Joel from Tulsa, Ok Bruce Springsteen has covered this and I think Bob Dylan, who was greatly influenced by Guthrie, also did a cover.
• Musicmama from New York, Ny This song shows us what patriotism really is: the love of one's homeland and the people in it, and the belief that the land belongs to everyone. Too often, "patriotism" is used as a term for nationalism, which is too often subverted toward other agendae (e.g., If you are patriotic, you support invasions of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.) and is enforced with violence. Woody Guthrie, perhaps more than any other songwriter, composed from both the heart and the gut--which is why this song, and others he wrote and sang, work so well.
• Echo from Normalville, Ma i hate how people go down to the fifth on "waters"
• Jon from Oakridge, Or I LOVE this song also. Just another Guthrie classic. Sadly, quickly being forgotten, like many other great musicians.
• Bob from N. Riverside, Il This song is sooooooooo emotional. whenever i hear it i brek down in tears of pity and overwhelming joy. This song has been stuct in my head for ever
• Stefanie from Rock Hill, Sc I never really paid attention to the words before, and hadn't known all of them. I now get the message that Woody was trying to tell us. Unfortunately, I don't think plliticians are going to stop misinterpreting songs such as this and "Born in the U.S.A." any time soon.
• Stefanie from Rock Hill, Sc There's a live verwsion of this that Bob Dylan performed. I can't remember where it was recorded at the moment, but it is on the No Direction Home sound track.
• Loretta from Liverpool, England woody guthrie had a good sense if humor and wrote a very nice parody of his own son: "This land is my land! It is not your land! I got a shot gun And you ain't got one! If you don't get off I'll blow you're head off!" and it goes on. you get the idea.

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• Bruce Springsteen
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Inside Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”

by Lynne Margolis April 1, 2012, 7:30 pm 4 Comments

Videos by American Songwriter

It’s awfully bold to suggest any one song has so affected America’s psyche that, nearly 75 years after it was first drafted, it still reverberates strongly enough to merit a textbook-dimensioned, 250-page book.

But this isn’t just any song, of course. It’s “This Land Is Your Land,” the Woody Guthrie sing-along that’s arguably more popular than our national anthem. Both an eloquent description of our nation’s beauty and, as originally written, an expression of scorn for those who don’t see fit to share it, Guthrie’s most famous song is an American totem, as timely now as it was when he first penned it, on Feb. 23, 1940, in irritated response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” (His initial title was “God Blessed America.”)

In his new book, This Land Is Your Land: Woody Guthrie And The Journey Of An American Song, Robert Santelli offers keen insights into its evolution from pointed diatribe to school children’s standard, and more recently, both.

Guthrie wrote it in a flophouse New York hotel, using the line “God blessed America for me.” He later changed it to “this land was made for you and me” and titled it, “This Land Is My Land.”

In the great tradition of folk music, the song morphed through a few incarnations. His original version, based on a song by Carter Family (“Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine”) referred to “Staten Island” instead of “the New York Island, ” and contained two verses he later lopped off, but which have been repopularized. They reflect his discontent with the Depression-enhanced economic disparity and greed he witnessed in so many pockets of the country.

As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there

And that sign said – no trespassin’

But on the other side … it didn’t say nothin!

Now that side was made for you and me!

In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple

Near the relief office – I see my people

And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’

If this land’s still made for you and me.

As Santelli reports, Guthrie’s first recording of the song, done for Moe Asch in 1944, included these verses. But hardly anyone knew that recording existed until the The Asch Recordings in 1997. When Guthrie began using the song on a radio show and published it in a mimeographed book of lyrics, it did not contain those verses (though his songbook contained a different verse: Nobody living can ever stop me/As I go walking my freedom highway … )

Guthrie wrote yet another set of lyrics for a revival of a Martha Graham Dance Company production , on which he had collaborated years earlier. One verse went: I saw my people and heard them singing/I heard them crying and saw them dancing/I saw them marching into their union/This land was made for you and me.

But it was music publisher Howie Richmond  that put the song on its path to popularity. Alan Lomax suggested he offer various Library of Congress songs for publication in music-class textbooks to entice new generations into greater appreciation. Richmond offered publication rights for $1. With the growing Cold War, its patriotic overtones were easily accepted.

It fell to Pete Seeger and subsequent folk revivalists – from Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp and Guthrie’s son Arlo to, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello and so many others – to help Americans understand its dual intentions. And truly, what makes “This Land” so remarkable is that it makes a patriotic statement even as it chastises the selfish and powerful.

“This country was founded on the music of social change,” said Santelli during a speech at this year’s SXSW. Springsteen, he said, took Guthrie’s lessons to heart as he learned to balance American pride with socio-political criticism. In his own speech, Springsteen noted, “Woody’s world was a world where fatalism was tempered by a practical idealism. It was a world where speaking truth to power wasn’t futile, whatever its outcome.”

Springsteen also described the cold January day in 2009 when he stood at the Lincoln Memorial with Seeger, leading hundreds of thousands of Americans in singing every verse during the inaugural concert for the first black president in U.S. history. “When we sung that song, Americans – young and old, black and white, of all religious and political beliefs – were united, for a brief moment, by Woody’s poetry.”

Sure, any great folk song has the power to unite listeners – that’s one of their main functions. But this song is different. Until that day, Nora Guthrie couldn’t quite explain why. Guthrie, who oversees her father’s legacy, experienced that moment in a very visceral, personal way.

“For me, that was it. I looked up and I said to my father, ‘So that’s why you wrote it. And I was laughing and crying at the same time. Because the song made sense to me in the world, but not like that. And suddenly, I couldn’t think of any other song on the planet that would have been as good in that moment as ‘This Land is Your Land’ … I thought, ‘That’s it. My work is over.’ We’ve been to the mountain, we’ve seen the dream.”

As it turns out, there’s always more work. As Morello hops to Occupy rallies and artists like Neil Young pluck the song for new collections, she says, “Right now, Woody’s involvement with the country is really nice. It feels like a good thing for him to be involved in the conversation, when the conversation is so cuckoo.”

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Song Meanings and Facts

• Woody Guthrie

This Land Is Your Land

by SMF · Published January 20, 2021 · Updated January 20, 2021

Those familiar with “This Land Is Your Land” know that it is patriotic in nature, thus contributing to its long-standing relevancy and acceptance in American society. But such was not always the case. Rather upon its original conception, this song was actually meant to be sort of a mocking of another classic patriotic tune, “God Bless America”, which Woody Guthrie  felt was a bit too jolly  for the reality of the times. In fact Guthrie was akin to a radical artist for his day, even being  compared to a gangsta rapper  by the Library of Congress. And accordingly his patriotic song was more critical of American society.

That is to say that originally, “This Land Is Your Land” featured two additional verses which have since been omitted. In one of them, the singer seems to be scoffing at the concept of private property, i.e. an individual buying a significant piece of land and then restricting others from entering it. And in the other, he appears to be questioning America’s viability as a prosperous nation (in the aftermath of the Great Depression), noticing even back then how masses of people were dependent on welfare.

Additionally in the original version, each verse concludes with the line “God blessed America for me”. And theoretically, the past tense of the word  bless  was meant to point to the idea that America’s heyday was already behind her.

Those two verses, as well the “God blessed America for me” part, were excluded from the revised version of “This Land Is Your Land”. And the abovementioned sentiments are not to imply that Woody Guthrie did not love America, which  he apparently did . Indeed even the original version of this song, along with those two verses, was still by and large patriotic in nature. But without them, the sentiment of appreciating the United States really comes through.

Throughout the first two verses, the singer is expressing an aesthetic gratitude for the continental United States. And Woody was not saying such just for singing’s sake, as he really and truly had traveled  throughout America  . He lets it be known that all the way “from California”, i.e. the southwest of the country, “to the New York Island”, i.e. the northeast, he does in fact admire both America’s natural and manmade beauty.

The next two verses feature the singer traversing the landmass itself. It can be ascertained, to some extent, that his travels are not always pleasant. But in all he delineates different types of environments, from “sparkling sands” to “diamond deserts”, to “wheat fields” to “dust clouds”. which once again make up the continental US. And the fifth verse, as standardly rendered, is a repeating of the first, with the singer again giving a shoutout to California, New York, etc.

Throughout it all, each verse ends with the line “this land was made for you and me.” Thus such of course would be the thesis sentiment of “This Land Is Your Land”. And even if the song was originally sarcastic in nature, what it alludes to is the American ideology of the land’s splendor and resources being available to all of its citizens. The United States may not have actually been practicing this, as even when this song was written African-Americans were still dealing with Jim Crow laws, etc. And it is not known if Woody Guthrie is even referring to multiculturalism per se. But more importantly is the genuine feeling of patriotism being relayed. The singer recognizes that not only is he fortunate to be an American but also all of the other residents of the land. And as such, he wants his countrymen to feel just as proud to be an American as he does.

Facts about “This Is Your Land”

The composition of this song dates back to 1940, being written by Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) – one of the most-famous folk singers in American history –  while in New York City . He went on to record it in 1944 and first published it in 1945, as Guthrie had shelved the tune for a few years.

At the time Woody first recorded “This Land Is Your Land” he was not a professional musician but rather a Merchant Marine.

He wrote the song as a response to “God Bless America” (1938) or more specifically growing vexed of hearing said song on the radio. In fact “This Land Is Your Land” was originally named, in an act of sarcasm, “God Bless America for Me”.

Woody Guthrie loosely based the melody on another tune entitled “When the World’s on Fire” by The Carter Family, a folk group from the early-20 th  century. And the song was based on an even older Baptist hymn called “Oh, My Loving Brother”.

The Smithsonian Institution does possess an extant copy of a recording Guthrie made of this song in 1944 which does features the original version of the song.

Artists who have notably covered this song during the 1960s, perhaps  the most-derisive decade  of 20 th  century America, included The Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary.

Bruce Springsteen, who has a genuine affinity for the tune, has a history of performing “This Land Is Your Land” live during the 1980s and even released his own cover as part of the album  Live/1975-85  (1986).

The Boss also led a performance of the tune at a Lincoln Memorial-based pre-inauguration celebration held for Barack Obama, who at the time was US President-elect, on 18 January 2009.

“This Is Your Land” also has an extensive history of parodies and the lyrics being modified to reflect different ideas or to serve as shoutouts to another country. And amongst the pop media franchises in which it has been used in such capacities include the following:

• Home Improvement  (1994)
• Friends  (1999)
• The Simpsons  (2000) 

And of course this track has been preserved by the US Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, with its enshrinement taking place in 2002.

Woody Guthrie let it be explicitly known that he and the unspecified others who put this song together  did not care if other people used it . But as time progressed and perhaps to be expected, some other questionable entities have laid stake to copyright of this tune. Guthrie’s own copyright of “This Is Your Land” expired in 1973. So since then, at least theoretically the song has been free to use.

“This Is Your Land” became famous during the 1950s, and it wasn’t through radio airplay.  Rather an ethnomusicologist named Alan Lomax (1915-2002) lobbied to get the tune published in the music textbooks of schools. And the song, not only due to the message but also the fact that it’s easy to sing, “became nearly as ubiquitous as the national anthem”.

Above is American songstress Jennifer Lopez’s famous performance of “This Land Is Your Land” at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden on 20 January 2021.

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December 1, 2022

 by SMF · Published December 1, 2022

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Images of a Brazilian City Underwater

Torrential rains have caused one of Brazil’s worst floods in modern history, leaving more than 100 dead and nearly an entire state submerged.

An aerial view on Wednesday of one of the worst natural calamities to hit the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Credit... Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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By Ana Ionova and Tanira Lebedeff

Ana Ionova reported from Rio de Janeiro, and Tanira Lebedeff from Porto Alegre, Brazil.

• May 8, 2024

Anderson da Silva Pantaleão was at the snack bar he owns last Friday when clay-colored water began filling the streets in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. Soon, it was rushing into his ground-floor shop. By 9 p.m., the water was up to his waist.

“Then the fear starts to hit,” he said. “You’re just trying not to drown.”

He dashed up to a neighbor’s home on the second floor, taking refuge for the next three nights, rationing water, cheese and sausage with two others. Members of the group slept in shifts, fearing another rush of water could take them by surprise in the dead of night.

On Monday, water began flooding the second floor, and they thought the worst. Then, a military boat arrived and rescued Mr. Pantaleão, 43. A day later, despite heavy rains, he was trying to go back on a rescue boat to search for friends who were still missing or stranded.

“I can’t leave them there,” he said. “The water is running out, the food is running out.”

Flood victims took shelter at a sports facility in the Menino Deus neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The situation in southern Brazil, where heavy rains have caused flooding in hundreds of municipalities, may worsen with the arrival of new storms.

A man was rescued by military firefighters after the floods in Canoas, Brazil, on Saturday.

People charging their mobile phones outside a drugstore in the historic center of Porto Alegre, Brazil, after torrential storms devastated areas in Rio Grande do Sul State.

Brazil is grappling with one of its worst floods in recent history. Torrential rains have drenched the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, home to 11 million people, since late April and have triggered severe flooding that has submerged entire towns, blocked roads, broken a major dam and shut down the international airport until June.

At least 105 people have been killed and 130 others have been reported missing. The floods, which have stretched across most of Rio Grande do Sul’s 497 municipalities, have forced nearly 164,000 people from their homes.

In the state capital, Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million perched on the banks of the Guaiba River, streets were submerged in murky water and the airport was shuttered by the deluge, with flights canceled through the end of the month.

The river rose to over 16 feet this week, exceeding the previous high levels seen during a major flood in 1941 that paralyzed the city for weeks.

The flooding has blocked roads into the city and hampered deliveries of basic goods. Supermarkets were running out of bottled water on Tuesday, and some residents reported walking up to three miles in search of clean drinking water.

Many of those stranded awaited help on rooftops. Some took desperate measures to flee: When the shelter her family was staying in flooded, Ana Paula de Abreu, 40, swam to a rescue boat while grasping her 11-year-old son under one arm. Two residents of one Porto Alegre neighborhood used an inflatable mattress to pull at least 15 people out of their inundated homes.

Search crews, which include the authorities and volunteers, were scouring flooded areas and rescuing residents by boat and air. With nowhere to land, some helicopters have used winches to pull up people stranded by the flooding.

Barbara Fernandes, 42, a lawyer in Porto Alegre, spent hours on the scorching roof of her apartment building on Monday, waving a red rag and her crutches toward the sky. A rescue helicopter finally spotted her in the late afternoon.

“You just don’t know when they’ll come for you,” said Ms. Fernandes, who is recovering from surgery on her ankle and could not flee her building before the waters rose.

A cargo plane at the flooded Salgado Filho International Airport on Tuesday in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Residents were evacuated in a military vehicle from an area flooded by heavy rains, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on Tuesday.

Cintia Santos was evacuated by bus from a flooded area on Tuesday in Eldorado do Sul.

Nearly 67,000 people were living in shelters across the state, while others have taken refuge in the homes of family or friends. Some people who had access to neither option were sleeping in their cars or on the streets in areas that were still dry.

“It seems like we’re living through the end of the world,” said Beatriz Belmontt Abel, 46, a nursing technician who was volunteering at a shelter in the city of Canoas, across the river from Porto Alegre. “I never imagined I would see this happen.”

In another shelter set up in a gym in Porto Alegre, volunteers distributed meals and clothes. Rows of mattresses lay on the floor, and cardboard boxes served as shelves. Those who had been rescued busied themselves sweeping the floor and making their temporary beds.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who visited the region last week, pledged federal funds to help the rescue efforts. The state authorities have also announced aid to pay for search crews, health services and housing for those whose homes were destroyed or damaged by floodwaters.

Even as rescues continued, the authorities worried that the crisis could worsen because another wave of severe weather was expected in coming days. With a cold front buffeting the region, meteorologists have forecast heavy rains, hail, thunderstorms and winds over 60 miles per hour.

The states’s governor, Eduardo Leite, said the authorities were evacuating people from regions vulnerable to more turbulent weather. Some residents have refused to abandon their homes, fearing looting. Others have tried to return to their neighborhoods, hoping water levels will recede.

“It’s not time to go home,” Mr. Leite told reporters on Tuesday.

The flooding is the fourth weather-related crisis to hit Brazil’s southern region in less than a year. In September, 37 people were killed in Rio Grande do Sul by torrential rains and punishing winds caused by a cyclone.

People rescued from flooded areas in the Sao Joao neighborhood in Porto Alegre.

Floodwaters surrounded the Beira-Rio soccer stadium, home of the Sport Club Internacional, in Porto Alegre on Tuesday.

A flooded street in the Cidade Baixa neighborhood of Porto Alegre.

Climate experts say the region is reeling from the effects of El Niño, the cyclical climate phenomenon that can bring heavy rains to Brazil’s southern regions while causing drought in the Amazon rainforest.

But the effects of El Niño have been exacerbated by a mix of climate change, deforestation and haphazard urbanization, according to Mercedes Bustamante, an ecologist and professor at the University of Brasília.

“You’re really looking at a recipe for disaster,” said Dr. Bustamante, who has written several reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the United Nations.

For well over a decade, scientists have been warning policymakers that global warming would bring increased rains to this region.

As deforestation advances in the Amazon and elsewhere in Brazil, precipitation patterns are shifting and leading to more erratic rain patterns, according to Dr. Bustamante. As a result, rainfall is spread unevenly at times, drenching smaller areas or coming in torrential downpours over shorter periods.

Severe weather has also become more deadly in recent decades, as urban populations have grown and cities like Porto Alegre have pushed into forested areas that once acted as buffers against flooding and landslides, she added.

The latest floods caught Brazil “unprepared,” Dr. Bustamante noted, highlighting the need to make cities more resilient to climate change and develop response strategies that better protect residents from extreme weather events, which are bound to become more frequent.

“It is a tragedy that, unfortunately, has been coming for some time,” she said. “We hope that this serves as a call to action.”

People linked arms as others rescued from flooded areas arrived by boat in Porto Alegre on Tuesday.

Manuela Andreoni contributed reporting from New York.

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Kansas' governor has killed proposed limits on foreign land ownership

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed proposed restrictions on foreign ownership of land in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. — Proposed restrictions in Kansas on the foreign ownership of land died Friday when the state’s Democratic governor vetoed a bill that top Republican lawmakers argued would protect military bases from Chinese spying.

The Kansas House’s top GOP leader accused Gov. Laura Kelly of “apathy” toward serious national security threats from China and other nations declared by the U.S. government to be adversaries “of concern,” including Cuba, Iraq, North Korea and Venezuela. The bill would have prohibited more than 10% ownership by foreign nationals from those countries of any non-residential property within 100 miles of any military installation — or most of Kansas.