Washington Post had an excellent feature on Woody Gutherie today

[FSogol]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/woody-guthrie-at-100-american-struggles-and-dreams/2012/07/09/gJQAI82MYW_story.html


By Joe Heim, Published: July 9

It’s not widely known that Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” — a song written in 1940 that would later become a grade-school classic — was written as a rejoinder to another American standard, Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” a song that gained currency in pre-World War II America.

Guthrie, who would have turned 100 this week, felt Berlin’s song was overly patriotic and didn’t address the struggles and dreams of the ordinary Americans he knew, says Jeff Place, archivist for the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. And so Guthrie penned “This Land” (originally titled “God Blessed America”) as a retort that emphasized the country’s shared resources and egalitarianism, and included verses such as this that would cheer populists (not to mention today’s Occupy movement):

As I went walking I saw a sign there

And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”

But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,

That side was made for you and me.

[Hoyt]

1. "some will rob you with a six gun, some with a fountain pen. " Love Woody.

[Downwinder]

3. Lets add a verse for Rockefeller, Chase and Jamie Dimon

They stole this land from you and me.

[FSogol]

2. Yeah, a true American classic. n/t

[cyberswede]

4. K & R for Woody!

[FSogol]

5. It is sad that an article on Gutherie gets 2 recs and some real foolishness gets 100s of kicks.

What's up that, DU?

[dipsydoodle]

8. True

[lovemydog]

6. Woody Guthrie influenced

Bob Dylan, The Clash, Joe Doe, thousands of others, & me!

His music is as fresh as the day he recorded it. Huge K & R.

[lovemydog]

7. Always loved this line from X The Band

'Woody Guthrie sang about b-e-e-t-s, not b-e-a-t-s'

[struggle4progress]

9. This Land Is Your Land