Posted on 05/01/2020 10:50:48 AM PDT by rktman
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. For decades, it's been a staple of kindergarten classrooms "from California to the New York island," as the lyrics go. It's the musical equivalent of apple pie, though the flavor varies wildly depending on who's doing the singing.
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. The underlying message, repeated throughout the song, makes the heart swell: "This land was made for you and me."
But there's more to "This Land Is Your Land" than many people realize—two verses more, in fact. 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. 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at getpocket.com ...
> I love that song. I had no idea it was so nasty in parts. <
I do too. And I always knew about the commie verses. Fortunately those verses are rarely sung. So I’ll just enjoy the happy wanderer part of the song, particularly when it ‘s sung by a great singer like Judy Collins or Johnny Cash.
This land is my land,
It is not your land,
I’m a Citizen here,
You’re an Illegal Alien,
You better go home,
And hereabouts no longer roam,
This land is for those here legally.
The words and the music are like a nursery song.
Who are you and me? Does it include illegals?
I guess if you own private property, this land was not made for you, and your property should be taken away.
A staple of kiddie morning TV even back to the Captain Kangaroo days of the mid-60’s. And they knew it then.
During my 5th and 6th grade years in the public schools ('68-'69), we had a music teacher come in to school and lead us in song on the piano every week.
She happen to be our next door neighbor and I knew she was a committed Christian.
She would often rail, obliquely, about the social unrest and young protesters in the country at that time; and I remember this was one of her favorite songs, and she seemed to sing it as a protest against what was going on in the streets at the time.
Just my observation.
“Happy Wanderer”, I have that song. But it’s done by a more traditional polka band. I’d like to say more, but I’ve got to go and find out who stole the kishka.
You and me both - see my previous post
I prefer the 2004 Jibjab version.
I am not saying it is a great song, but we ditched that folk crap for hair metal.
We've since grown up but sorry libs....nobody knows about or cares about Guthrie except that we know his son did that song we hear every Thanksgiving on classic rock stations. You lose. Good day sir.
I actually like Claude King’s version better.
https://genius.com/Claude-king-this-land-of-yours-and-mine-lyrics
This Land Of Yours And Mine
Claude King
I have seen the warships on Manila Bay watched the sun a setting on the way
I’ve sailed the seven seas I’ve crossed the Great Divide
There’s nothing like this land of yours and mine
There’s nothing like this land yours and my land
From the New York harbor to the Frisco Bay
Up to Mississippi cross the wide Missoury
There’s nothing like this land of yours and mine
( flute )
I’ve stood alone in Texas I’ve seen the Broadway lights
Heard a lonesome freight train in the night
I’ve watched the tall corn grow heard a voice that whispers low
There’s nothing like this land of yours and mine
There’s nothing like this land...
Democrat socialist thugs.
Someone call a Cop!
Someone call a Cop!
Someone call a Cop!
“It’s because the Nazis were National Socialists.”
True.
“Controversial problems [between Germany and Russia] did not, in my opinion, exist anywhere along the line from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and to the Far East.
In addition, despite all the divergencies in their views of life, there was one thing common to the ideology of Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union: opposition to the capitalist democracies in the West.”—Julius Schnurre, Nazi trade rep to Russia.
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer. Page 501 in my copy,
I never was to sure about Captain Kangaroo, or Fred Rogers.
Fred Rogers wasn’t a Communist. I have a friend whose brother lived two doors down the street from him here in Pittsburgh. Said that the guy you saw on TV was EXACTLY the same guy he was in real life.
I meant his sexuality.
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