Woody Guthrie's 100th Birthday Anniversary
On July 14, 2012, is the anniversary of one of America's most famous folk singers, Woody Guthrie. There will be a music festival celebrating this man and his work by Arlo Guthrie & The Guthrie Family in Central Park, NYC.
Woody Guthrie 1912-2012
Hey, maybe OWS should be there singing "This Land is Your Land".
I hope it gets televised. I loved Woody's ballads and songs.
This Land is Your Land
Original 1944 lyrics
Woody Guthrie
This land is your land, 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
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 I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and 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, 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.
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Other confirmed verses of the song...
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
This land was made for you and me.
Woody has a variant that I heard Arlo sing on a album I have.
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.
The original manuscript also has the verses below:
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?
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I do think that this song should be the battle hymn against "rigged [free]" trade agreements, which allow multinational corporations to sue our governments -- federal, state, and local -- because of laws on the books that protect our rights and health but cut into corporate profits. Think of the "dolphin-safe" tuna label that led a Mexican tuna company to sue the USA because they use nets, which capture and kill dolphins along with tuna. There are a bunch more examples, and I'm sure Woody would be furiously singing against this attack on our laws that are designed to protect us and other life forms.
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