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America's Folk Song: This Land Is Your Land
There was a revival of folk music in this country and in Britain after WWII, when folk music was embraced by Americans as the cultural antithesis of popular music. This Land Is Your Land is one of America’s most famous and beloved folk songs. It's a song we love to hear on national holidays like the 4th of July, but few Americans know Woody Guthrie, whose photo is on the left, wrote it in response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America and originally titled the song, God Blessed America for Me.
The lyrics were first penned by Guthrie in 1940, but the lyrics of This Land Is Your Land were sung by Guthrie with different words at various times, perhaps to enhance his political viewpoint at one particular time and to be more politically correct on another. How can it be so hard to lock down the verses of a song? Check out the last three verses of Guthrie’s song below:
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.
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
A voice was chanting, as the fog was lifting;
This land was made for you and me.
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.
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?
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
It is hard to catch a rendition of the Smithsonian version, but you did catch something close to it if you watched Obama’s Inauguration on the Mall. It was there that 89-year-old Pete Seeger, the onetime blacklisted folk icon and activist, joined Bruce Springsteen and his grandson Tao Rodriquez-Seeger in leading several hundred thousand people in singing Woody Guthrie's classic.
Pete Seeger et al: This Land Is Your Land (2009)
Despite the risk of public ridicule and the fact that the POTUS has apologized to anyone anywhere for being American, I'll admit I love patriotic songs, including our National Anthem, God Bless America, and This Land Is Your Land. My parents loved this country, they counted themselves lucky to be Americans, and they passed their outlook on to their children. I happily pass the same outlook on to my children, because there is no place on earth I'd rather live, even though I know we have our problems. This land is my land.
- BJinAmerica's blog
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there is no place on earth I'd rather live, even though I know we have our problems. This land is my land.
So well said. thank you
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
for providing us the platform to air our ideas, thoughts and feelings.
Remember Trini Lopez,..?? I Have the origional Albumn...
Along with the origional Woodstock ..and alot of sixtys and seventies Records..I can Play Tapes..CD's or records in My DEN depending on my mood..Isnt America GREAT...! LOVE that FOLK MUSIC too...
Coming here helps remind me about all that is GOOD About the United states and its....FOLKS...
If I had a Hammer...I would give the liberty bell a little TAP today...and say THANK YOU...
Wow. the memories, Mountain Lion. I am singing that song in my head now......If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning. I hammer in the evening, all over this land. I'd hammer out danger. I'd hammer out warning. I'd hammer out the love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land. Thanks for that memory Moutain Lion.
commercial music, on the other hand, is usually just about making a buck.
I have often wondered where the great protest folk music has been during the Bush years. Maybe it will flower again during the Obama years, which I hope will be limited to four (at the most!).
I love folk music, madamab. When I was a kid, my uncle used to play folk music all the time. He played Peter, Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio, Woody Guthrie and others. When I was a girl scout, we used to sit around and sing folk songs.
Given Obama's agenda and the fact that it will impact middle and low earners, I have a feeling that if folk music is going to come back, it will be within Obama's first term.
I learned This Land is Your Land when I was a child in elementary school. The music teacher would come to class and she would teach us different songs. I still remember the words, too. Do they even teach children these wonderful songs anymore? I am partial to Woody Guthrie's version. I love patriotic songs, too, BJ. I love to hear John Phillip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." I always get all choked-up when I hear our national anthem. There were enormous sacrifices made in order for us to live in this great country, and the national anthem always makes me remember that.
You said: "There were enormous sacrifices made in order for us to live in this great country, and the national anthem always makes me remember that." Me too, whenever I hear the national anthem, I always remember those who sacrificed life and limb for us.