{"id":130,"date":"2025-08-17T15:50:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/?page_id=130"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:22:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T17:22:30","slug":"woody-guthrie-this-land-is-your-land-1940","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/texts\/woody-guthrie-this-land-is-your-land-1940\/","title":{"rendered":"Woody Guthrie, \u201cThis Land Is Your Land\u201d (1940)"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION<\/h3>\n
\"Guthrie\"<\/a>
Woody Guthrie and his guitar (Guthrie Foundation<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)<\/a> was a famous 20th-century American folk singer from Oklahoma who wrote over 3,000 songs, including “This Land Is Your Land.”\u00a0 The Academy of American poets describes him as the “poet of the people.” Guthrie was a noted left-wing political activist, though he denied being a communist and instead preferred to identify himself as a “commonist.”\u00a0 He famously wrote “this machine kills fascists” on his guitars.\u00a0 Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land” in 1940 as a response to Kate Smith’s popular rendition of the song, “God Bless America,” which he considered indifferent in the face of widespread examples of American poverty and injustice.\u00a0 An original draft of the song was titled, “God Blessed America.”\u00a0 Guthrie suffered from Huntington’s disease, a nervous system disorder that ran in his family.\u00a0 He died after years of hospitalization in 1967.<\/p>\n

\n

This Land Is Your Land<\/h3>\n

This land is your land, this land is my land
\nFrom California to the New York island,
\nFrom the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
\nThis land was made for you and me.<\/p>\n

As I was walking that ribbon of highway
\nI saw above me that endless skyway;
\nI saw below me that golden valley;
\nThis land was made for you and me.<\/p>\n

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
\nTo the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
\nAnd all around me a voice was sounding;
\nThis land was made for you and me.<\/p>\n

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
\nAnd the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
\nAs the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
\nThis land was made for you and me.<\/p>\n

As I went walking I saw a sign there,
\nAnd on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
\nBut on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
\nThat side was made for you and me.<\/p>\n

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
\nBy the relief office I seen my people;
\nAs they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
\nIs this land made for you and me?<\/p>\n

Nobody living can ever stop me,
\nAs I go walking that freedom highway;
\nNobody living can ever make me turn back
\nThis land was made for you and me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) was a famous 20th-century American folk singer from Oklahoma who wrote over 3,000 songs, including “This Land Is Your Land.”\u00a0 The Academy of American poets describes him as the “poet of the people.” Guthrie was a noted left-wing political activist, though […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":258,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-130","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130\/revisions\/614"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}