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This Land Is Your Land (1944 Asch Recording) Lyrics
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
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
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"
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
Sign was painted; said "Private Property"
But on the back side it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me
When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, as the fog was lifting:
"This land was made for you and me"
This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
And I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding:
"This land was made for you and me"
Sign was painted; said "Private Property"
But on the back side it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, as the fog was lifting:
"This land was made for you and me"
From California to the New York Island
From redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
Woody varied the lyrics of this song a lot. This is one of the better known versions, recorded for Moe Asch of Folkways Records
Woody actually had another verse that read:
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]
He actually says, "God blessed America for me" instead of "This land...etc", but he changed it later. It was originally written in response to his hatred for the ever-popular "God Bless America" written by Irving Berlin and cranked out on the radio way too often. Woody knew that God was blessing America the way he and millions of others saw it. It was a socialist response to a passive song.