I don't go to links, so I don't know whether that was funny.
I do know that "This land" should be our national anthem.
Checkmate!
Bah! Catchy tune written by a leftwinger and loved by lefties.
More:
This was part of the "NPR 100" musical works of the 20th century coverage. Interviews are included with Pete Seeger and Guthrie's daughter Nora. Focus is given to how "This Land..." was composed, Guthrie's influences culturally and musically, and his mix of literary and oral approaches to song making. How "This Land..." emerged as an alternative National Anthem -- and the famous missing verses about "private property" and the "relief office" -- are discussed using the missing recording discovered by Smithsonian archivist Jeff Place. Segments from Alan Lomax's 1940 interview of Guthrie for the Library of Congress are also heard.
Woody Guthrie's linked folklore with good citizenship. Some say that Woody was a communist and that the song had ideological intent, others say the CPUSA would not let Woody join, and thought he was too undisciplined to be a communist. Woody was not a folklorist, he was just plain folk, and composed and sang true to his Oklahoma traditions. But he meant to make the song and the nationalist content available to all oppressed people. The verses about private property were censored by the communists of the period in deference to the swing of the party line toward supporting the "war effort". So maybe the records were made without the two missing verses but Guthrie sang them at parties and rallies and the audience for whom he sang understood them.
The missing verses of Woody Guthrie's anthem, and the following content are from Nick Spitzer
"Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted, said 'Private property.'
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
This land was made for you and me."
Pete, Arlo and others often sang/sing the last line above as: "That side was made for you and me."
You can hear the missing version and related materials on "Woody Guthrie: 'This Land is Your Land': The Asch Recordings Vol. 1 (Smithsonian-Folkways) put together by Jeff Place and Guy Logsdon.
The verse written on paper in 1940 that appears to never have been used on a recording--I think it was really out of date by the 1944 recording session, and the War effort probably made such critiques as this and the "private property" lines seem inappropriate to many --is:
"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 God blessed America for me."
Source:
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Music/woodieguthrie.html
You mean the song by pinko Woody Guthrie should be our national anthem???