THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND...

In the previous entry, I quoted from the lyrics of the world-famous song by the American folk musician “Woody” (originally named Woodrow Wilson, after President Woodrow Wilson!) Guthrie, which has long become universally known as This Land Is Your Land.
What is less known is that the original intent of this presumably laudatory patriotic song was to be a song of protest, and a sarcastic reaction to Irving Berlin’s definitive American classic God Bless America. Guthrie’s song, for this reason, was subtitled by him God Blessed America For Me. Here are the full original lyrics of the song that can still be found in this version on its official Internet site, although it is never performed in its entirety for the reason which will presently become clear:

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
(God Blessed America For Me)
words and music by Woody Guthrie

Chorus: 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 was walking a ribbon of highway,
I saw above me an endless skyway,
I saw below me a golden valley,
This land was made for you and me. (Chorus.)

I’ve roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me a voice was sounding,
This land was made for you and me. (Chorus.)

The sun comes shining as I was strolling,
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling.
The fog was lifting, a voice come chanting,
This land was made for you and me. (Chorus.)

As I was walkin’--- I saw a sign there,
And that sign said, no tress passin’
But on the other side.... it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me! (Chorus.)

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of the steeple,
Near the relief office--- I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me. (Chorus (2x).)

This is indeed an authentic song of protest, and, to America’s eternal credit, nobody would ever think of putting Woody in jail for writing and performing it, or for his other leftist political transgressions. Perhaps, deep in her heart, America has always known that without Woody and without protest as such, there is no freedom.

Remarkable though, how propaganda works, and here is the rather curious part of this song’s story. Without its last two stanzas, the song does sound like a powerful, well-nigh picture-perfect glorification of America’s claim to excellence. It is only the said remainder of the song that makes it into an immensely powerful song of protest, as intended by its author. Thus, the clever solution is to cut off the negative, retaining the positive, and, lo and behold!, God Blessed America starts toeing the same line with Irving Berlin’s God Bless America (a splendid patriotic song, by the way, but that’s not the point), and everything is now just as peachy as the proverbially perfect peaches of Georgia…

Perfect? Yes! But, unlike in Guthrie’s song of protest, there is no freedom in it. Freedom is always rebellious, and never picture perfect.