Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land

[FolkAndMore]

That is a very fine version of this Woody Guthrie song! Like it a lot! ...Wolfgang

[TimMcMullen]

@FolkAndMore Thanks for your kind comment. I appreciate it.

Tim

[jjkqazolp]

I love this song, we use to sing it back in kindergarten in front of the teacher sitting down indian style while she's rockin in her chair, and now i'm a senior getting ready to graduate in may.

[TimMcMullen]

@jjkqazolp thanks for the comment. Have a good year, and enjoy your graduation!

Tim

[nikili01990]

great :)



[moonmatter]

good stuff bro

[TimMcMullen]

@moonmatter —Thanks, I appreciate it.

[brentavecchiaFAB]

I'm singing along with you, even though I can't understand the deleted verses. Where can I find them? Love from Venice, Italy!

[TimMcMullen]

The interesting thing about this song is that it has been excised and sanitized, then touted as a cute patriotic song. It is, of course, truly patriotic in the best sense of the word; it is patriotic because it decries the abuses of the system and envisions a better America for all.

[TimMcMullen]

You can see various versions of the song at two terrific sites.

The first is the Guthrie Archives, maintained by the Guthrie family. Google woodyguthrie "dot" org — YouTube doesn't allow URL's.

The second is a great site by Manfred Helfert with lots of great research on Woody, including several versions of "This Land is Your Land." I especially commend this collection because Manfred integrated about twelve of my video versions into his website. How cool is that?

woodyguthrie "dot" de

[TorreMazz]

This seems a very acute song for the Netherlands right now .... it's recently translated and sung by Jan Rot!

I''ll check out your references for further research. Thanks a lot...

 from Amsterdam

[ThePie777]

i had to see this video for my homework in social studies

[TimMcMullen]

I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing for you. Hopefully you found Woody's song to be meaningful. Just curious: were you assigned this particular video, or just some version of the song?

[PhranqueGallo]

Check out Rolie Polie Guacamole's version it's rockin!!!!!!!!

[BristolSue]

This song has never been more timely, and I thank you for it. I learned this song half a century ago, but not the lost lyrics. I saw on another site that Woody, in the last years of his life, made sure that Arlo learned these words, so they would never be lost.

Beautiful job, and thank you for the commentary. Wish there was more.

[bulbheadmyass]

What a great job you did on this wonderful Woody song, Tim. I really appreciate the "hidden" lyrics -- let's take 'em out of the closet and sing 'em ! This song should be our national anthem.

[obviologist]

I love this song, it is probably one of folk's most important songs, after hearing the deleted verses, it really pisses me of that the fascists have hidden away the most important part of the song. they will let us have our hero, just as long as we loose sight of why they were our hero's in the first place. I say its time we start looking at the other side of the sign and remembering that this land is OUR land, not theirs.

[TimMcMullen]

Thanks for the comment. I agree it truly should be the true American anthem both for its answer to "God Bless America" and "The Battle Hymn." The "Battle Hymn," really? Unfortunately, like Walt Kelly wrote in his Pogo comic many years ago, "We have met the enemy, and they are us!"

It's not the "fascists" who eviscerated Guthrie's lyrics, it's the American psyche, better known as "The United States of Amnesia." Rush Limbaugh and Fox News didn't make us ignorant and irresponsible. We did that.

[TimMcMullen]

My song, "Talking Herstory" refers to ee cummings' comment about the "shrill, collective myth." We tell ourselves that we are the bravest and the freest when, in fact, we were one of the last of the civilized countries to maintain slavery, to give women the vote, to end legal segregation. When we are attacked (Pearl Harbor, 9/11) we immediately begin sacrificing our principles. America has a great deal of which to be proud, but it's not the misuse of our military or our corporate lawlessness.

[TimMcMullen]

What we should value above all else are the true ideals and principles upon which the country was launched (and not the execution thereof, which has often been grotesquely hypocritical). Reagan's anti-tax, anti-government movement now furthered by 8 years of Bush, has led to the near destruction of public education, of the health care system, and our understanding of ourselves as a bastion of liberty rather than a haven for corporate criminals. The greatest threat to Democracy is Hypocrisy!

Tim

[JeykinsN]

goo-ood :)

you're real cool =]

[thecarters28]

great job!. i think woddy took the melody exactly from the carter familys song " When the Worlds on fire"

[TimMcMullen]

The Carters also used the melody on Little Darling Pal of Mine. Clearly, Woody was "inspired" by many of their works. "The Sinking of the Reuben James" came from "Wildwood Flower," and "Tom Joad" came straight from "John Hardy." Thanks for the comment and the compliment.

[Popcorn634]

Nice! First class! Nicely done!

[Carex09]

I thought there were still a couple lines left out of this version too? I forget, because I have never actually heard it- it just heard of it.

[TimMcMullen]

Yep—There are many different lines and versions. I sometimes say Private Property and sometimes, No Trespassing. Woody recorded the song in several versions and published several more. The Guthrie Family maintains a great site that has most of Woody's lyrics. Manfred Helfert also has a great Guthrie site with tons of info including lyrics to the original version, God Blessed America for Me. He also has Woody's final version which repurposes it as a beautiful love song. I like them all!

[Vorlan]

Yeah, I think there's another verse:

"Nobody living, can ever stop me

As I go walking, my freedom highway

Nobody living, can make me turn back,

This land was made for you and me"

[9pasadena9]

private property

[warrkrymez]

trumpetSL08 (4 weeks ago)

When you think about it, it would be a better national anthem than AND THE ROCKET'S RED GLARE!!!! If I ran for president I would make this song our national anthem thats a promise to tom

[obviologist]

you should run for congress, you will have a 100% better chance of getting it changed. El presidente doesnt just get to change things like that.

[warrkrymez]

Don't tell me tell "trumpetSL08".

[hagiakeltoi]

I like your name, obviologist.

[MorganJServices]

Two weeks ago I was at a small park in our small port lake town. My ears perked up when I heard a Bob Dylan style musician in the pavilion singing the song your are singing. I ran to sing along almost crying. It was thrilling.

[MorganJServices]

Thanks for the correction. I am saddened at how our Americans have gone from singing songs that unite us (like Woody's music) - to the self-centered, mind numbing, soul stealing acceptable mainstream music today. Hearts are failing all around us and our country is under worse destruction than ever before. Music used to be a respectable art that brought families and the comman man together. I think of even the civil rights movement. The peaceful marches with spiritual songs of value.

[bluebeardit]

Good vibrations...

Peace

Massy

[ruthelator]

This song was written by Pete Seeger. Nobody sings it better than the original artist.

[TimMcMullen]

Ruth...This song was written by Woody Guthrie. It is probably his most famous song, and he recorded several versions of it. Hundreds of others have recorded it as well. It was written as an answer to Irving Berlin's, "God Bless America." Pete and Woody were in the Almanac Singers together, and Pete has sung it for over sixty years, including a version with Woody's son, Arlo, but it's Woody's song. About that there is no question. If you have a record of Pete doing it, check out the credits.

[MorganJServices]

I saw a documentary about Woody on PBS. I really thought he wrote this song for all the men out of work during the great depression. I was sure he wrote while traveling the country on rail or on foot. His heart was broken by all the poverty, hunger, homelessness, hardworking men in soup lines and the depression of the American soul. He was an advocate of the average citizen and was against the broken republic systems. He was like Sea Biscuit. A hero the average man during depression & war.

[TimMcMullen]

Morgan—You are right about Woody's inspiration: the poor, the downtrodden, the homeless; the victims of corporate greed and of collusion between politicians and plutocrats. However, the research says that he wrote it in New York, and that he was particularly incensed by the Berlin song. Originally, he called it "God Blessed America," and "This land was made for you and me" was originally "God blessed America for Me." "A voice was sounding: God Blessed America for Me" is almost Emersonian.

[TimMcMullen]

Thanks, Revleftkid; glad you enjoyed it.

If you like the truly patriotic, anti-"patriot" stuff, you might check out my "I'd Have to be Dead" and "Blood Red." They go to the heart of the hypocrisy of war. In a few weeks I plan to post versions of "The Voice for Choice" and "The Governed's Mental Getcha'."

[darkdragon1528]

this is my alltime fav song and i know it by heart and i listen to it all the time!!! i will listen again and again and again util i die ( no literaly *wink*)

[haileyteter]

i have never herd the other verses but i really like it.

[haileyteter]

the man can sing!!! another Woody Guthrie was born!!!

[haileyteter]

i love the song but the guy can go

[BerserkN00b]

nice stuff

[blandmangopatterson]

you did put em in? lois? lois?

[Loisenal]

You should add the words to the verses never heard. I've tried to tell people about them, but they don't believe me. You did a good job on this one. Thank you.

[blandmangopatterson]

i put em in my version lois :)