7/2/2023 0 Comments New lands lyrics meaning![]() 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. 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. 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. In the early '50s, famed American folklorist Alan Lomax came up with a nifty plan for preserving the nation's musical heritage. "This Land" was a perfect fit for classrooms and campsites, where the song would take on new life. 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"). ![]() Regardless of which verses are included, "This Land Is Your Land" is terrific for singing. "We did one program on CBS Radio, and a newspaper reported out, said, 'Red minstrels try to get on the networks,'" Seeger told NPR. 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. (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. 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. Guthrie's rendition on that album features neither the "no trespassing" verse nor the one about the relief office, which he never actually recorded. 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. When Guthrie first recorded the song in 1944, he included the verse about private property but left out the one about the relief office. One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple,Īs they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if The sixth and final verse in the original manuscript references the poor folks Guthrie saw living on government assistance during the Great Depression: The sign was painted, said: 'Private Property.'īut on the backside, it didn't say nothing. There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me. In the "lost" fourth verse, Guthrie decries the notion of private property, suggesting America is being carved up by the wealthy: 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. Guthrie originally titled his rejoinder "God Blessed America"-emphasis on the past tense-but eventually changed his tone. 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. ![]() 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. Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" in a divey hotel room in New York City. 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'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. The underlying message, repeated throughout the song, makes the heart swell: "This land was made for you and me."īut there's more to "This Land Is Your Land" than many people realize-two verses more, in fact. 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. It's the musical equivalent of apple pie, though the flavor varies wildly depending on who's doing the singing. For decades, it's been a staple of kindergarten classrooms "from California to the New York island," as the lyrics go. 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. ![]()
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