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"This Land Is Your Land"
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie (1940)
(As recorded by Woody Guthrie in the early 1940s; exact date unknown)

This land is my land - Click to enlarge
Lauren in Big Sky Country

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Click the link above to play two separate clips of Woody Guthrie, first singing verse 3 and then the chorus (verse 1). They will auto-load from other websites (Kididdles and Smithsonian Folkways) while you remain on this page.

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This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California, to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters --
This land was made for you and me

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property
But on the back side it didn't say nothing --
This land was made for you and me

As I went walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me that golden valley --
This land was made for you and me

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people --
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding --
This land was made for you and me

When the sun comes shining and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me


Guthrie said that he wrote this song because he was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing "God Bless America." In fact, before Guthrie changed each verse's concluding line to "This land was made for you and me," he ended each verse with "God blessed America for you and me." SOURCE: Guy Logsdon, "Notes on the Songs," liner notes to Woody Guthrie, This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1 (Smithsonian Folkways, 1997).