This Land is Your Land – A sarcastic response to God Bless America. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #WoodyGuthrie #ArloGuthrie

This famous folk favourite was written by one of the most prolific songwriters of all time; Woody Guthrie. The lineage of this performer spans several decades and music genres. He basically created the folk movement. His songs were often a condemnation of the politics and social atrocities of the day. Artists he influenced read like the who’s who of  classic and modern music. They include: Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Pete Seeger, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp, Billy Bragg and Jeff Tweedy. Oh…and a guy named Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan). Woody Guthrie frequently performed with the slogan “This machine kills fascists,” displayed on his guitar. 

Today’s song, ‘This Land is Your Land’ was written on this day in 1940 in response to the xenophobic ‘God Bless America’ by Irving Berlin. It was originally titled ‘God Blessed America For Me’ in sarcastic response. It wasn’t actually recorded until four years later. He aims to get his point across in verses like this:

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?

Or how about this one…?

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me

Sign was painted, it said ‘private property;

But on the back side it didn’t say nothing

This land was made for you and me. 

Oh, if he were alive today.

Woody Guthrie

This song has been covered by way too many performers to name and watered down versions with modified words have been created for school assemblies and other nations (including Canada) the world over. In 78 years this piece of music has left a mark.

Perhaps, Woody Guthrie’s most positive influence was bestowed on his own son…Arlo, who has always done a masterful job with this song and in preserving the legendary Guthrie name. This video combines a lighthearted delivery combined with a couple of stories. To see Arlo Guthrie live is a treat. He is an incredible songwriter in his own right (write) but he has a story for every song he sings and the stories often rival the songs in terms of delivery. He’s a treasure. 

Here is a verse with some fatherly advice that Woody passed on to his son:

Nobody living, can ever stop me,

As I go walking on that freedom highway;

Nobody living can ever make me turn me back

This land was made for you and me.

Woody Guthrie

‘This Land is Your Land’ is another recording chosen in 2002 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It is  an anthem for social justice and 78 years later the message still needs to be heard.