Volume 9 , Issue 4

This Land Is Your Land

In February 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land." It was inspired in part by his experiences during a cross-country trip and in part by his distaste for the Irving Berlin song "God Bless America," which he considered unrealistic and complacent (and he was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio).

The melody is based on the gospel song "When the World's on Fire," best known as sung by the country group The Carter Family around 1930. Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verses. These verses were often omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself:

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?
As I went walking, I saw a sign there,
And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing."
[In another version, the sign reads "Private Property"]
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!
That side was made for you and me.
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