I remember being in kindergarten, with the whole class standing in a circle holding hands. We were learning the song This Land Is Your Land. I loved it. Of course, I loved any time that we sang. But something about that song made me feel so grown up and proud.
This Land is Your Land is one of those folk songs that we know when, why, where, and by whom it was written. The when is 23 February 1940. Where: the Hanover House Hotel at 101 West 43rd Street in New York City. By whom:
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie was a fascinating person. He was born in 1912 in Oklahoma. He married for the first time at the young age of 19 but left his wife and children at the advent of the Dust Bowl and went to seek his fortune in California. (Needless to say, this marriage did not last.) Woody married three times fathering a total of eight children.
Throughout his life, Woody was associated with Socialism and Communism, although he never actually joined either party. He was also active in the Labor movement, helping unions form. He traveled extensively and wrote songs about everything that he saw.
But I haven’t yet told you why Woody wrote This Land Is Your Land. He was sick and tired of hearing Kate Smith singing God Bless America on the radio.
Kate Smith and God Bless America
God Bless America was written in 1918 by Tin Pan Alley composer extraordinaire Irving Berlin. He revived it in 1938 as America was debating joining the war in Europe. At this point Kate Smith was the queen of radio hosting The Kate Smith Hour that gave us her resident comics, Abbott and Costello. (Who’s on First had its premiere on The Kate Smith Hour on 24 March 1938.) God Bless America became Kate’s signature song.
Initially, Woody entitled his new song God Blessed America for Me, but later changed the title to This Land Is Your Land. He wrote the lyrics in his hotel room, but the melody came from a different source.
The Carter Family and Goat Gonads
The Carter Family had become famous due to appearing on the strongest radio station on the continent, owned by John R. Brinkley. Oh boy. “Dr.” Brinkley was a huge charlatan who convinced thousands of people that he could cure them over the airwaves. But his biggest scam dealt with transplanting goat gonads into men’s testes. I kid you not. Yes, a lot of people died or were permanently disabled.
Almost incidentally, Brinkley pioneered radio broadcasts. One of the acts he found and promoted was the Carter Family. They were originally made up of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and their sister-in-law, Maybelle. They sang folk, religious and self-written songs in a bluegrass-style. (Johnny Cash’s wife June was a member of a later generation of the Carter Family.) They had two songs that become important in the story of This Land Is Your Land: When the World’s on Fire, and Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine.
When the World’s on Fire is also known as Oh, my Loving Brother, an old-time hymn. As best I can tell all the Carter Family did was to change the name. However, their song Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine, used the same melody with new words written by A.P.
Woody had probably heard Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine on the radio in 1938. He may have also been familiar with the hymn, but The Carter Family didn’t record it until 1945. This doesn’t mean that they could not have been playing it on the radio before it was recorded.
Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
Many a night while you lay sleeping
Dreaming of your rambler's life
Lay a poor boy brokenhearted
Listening to the wind outside
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
Many a day with you I've rambled
Countless hours with you I've spent
Thought I had your heart forever
But I find it only lent
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
There is just three things I wish for
That's a casket, shroud, and grave
When I'm dead, don't weep for me
Just kiss those lips that you betrayed
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
(Well, that was a bright, cheerful little song, wasn’t it?)
This Land Is Your Land
There are a couple of changes that Woody made to the melody. The original is written in the ABCD format; meaning a different melodic idea for each of the verse’s four lines. Woody changed it to ABAC; so that the third line is a repeat of the first, and the fourth line is something entirely different.
Woody didn’t record This Land Is Your Land until 1944. He was approached by Alan Lomax, who with his father, John, had been driving all around Appalachia collecting folk songs for decades for the Library of Congress. Alan wanted to start putting American folk songs into school music books, and he wanted This Land Is Your Land. Woody sold him the rights to do this for $1.
This Land Is Your Land
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 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've roamed and rambled and I 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.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
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.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
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.
The version that I learned as a child, and that was put into school music books, lacked the last three verses.
Is this a folk song?
What makes this song a folk song? We know so much about it, and usually with folk music we know so little. In this case, we need to revisit the definition of folk song:
This song falls into the second part of the definition. It has a simple melody and a stanzaic, narrative verse. (Stanzaic – meaning it contains verses or stanzas) As the years have passed, it has gone through the oral tradition as well and has had many people sing it in their own way, often adding or subtracting verses. And the song continues to grow and change as people from Bruce Springsteen to Lady Gaga (who humorously combined it with God Bless America!) to Queen Latifah sing it.
Proving its folk song status even more, the song has been translated into many different languages and used as songs of national pride all over the world. Here’s a verse that they add in Canada:
This land is your land, This land is my land,
From Bonavista, to the Vancouver Island
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters,
This land was made for you and me.
As a final note (la!) here’s what Woody put on the copywrite notice for this song:
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do.
Were you taught This Land Is Your Land in school? Have you ever heard the versions from other countries? I’ll be posting several versions this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check those out.
Until next time!
This Land is Your Land is one of those folk songs that we know when, why, where, and by whom it was written. The when is 23 February 1940. Where: the Hanover House Hotel at 101 West 43rd Street in New York City. By whom:
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie was a fascinating person. He was born in 1912 in Oklahoma. He married for the first time at the young age of 19 but left his wife and children at the advent of the Dust Bowl and went to seek his fortune in California. (Needless to say, this marriage did not last.) Woody married three times fathering a total of eight children.
Throughout his life, Woody was associated with Socialism and Communism, although he never actually joined either party. He was also active in the Labor movement, helping unions form. He traveled extensively and wrote songs about everything that he saw.
But I haven’t yet told you why Woody wrote This Land Is Your Land. He was sick and tired of hearing Kate Smith singing God Bless America on the radio.
Kate Smith and God Bless America
God Bless America was written in 1918 by Tin Pan Alley composer extraordinaire Irving Berlin. He revived it in 1938 as America was debating joining the war in Europe. At this point Kate Smith was the queen of radio hosting The Kate Smith Hour that gave us her resident comics, Abbott and Costello. (Who’s on First had its premiere on The Kate Smith Hour on 24 March 1938.) God Bless America became Kate’s signature song.
Initially, Woody entitled his new song God Blessed America for Me, but later changed the title to This Land Is Your Land. He wrote the lyrics in his hotel room, but the melody came from a different source.
The Carter Family and Goat Gonads
The Carter Family had become famous due to appearing on the strongest radio station on the continent, owned by John R. Brinkley. Oh boy. “Dr.” Brinkley was a huge charlatan who convinced thousands of people that he could cure them over the airwaves. But his biggest scam dealt with transplanting goat gonads into men’s testes. I kid you not. Yes, a lot of people died or were permanently disabled.
Almost incidentally, Brinkley pioneered radio broadcasts. One of the acts he found and promoted was the Carter Family. They were originally made up of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and their sister-in-law, Maybelle. They sang folk, religious and self-written songs in a bluegrass-style. (Johnny Cash’s wife June was a member of a later generation of the Carter Family.) They had two songs that become important in the story of This Land Is Your Land: When the World’s on Fire, and Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine.
When the World’s on Fire is also known as Oh, my Loving Brother, an old-time hymn. As best I can tell all the Carter Family did was to change the name. However, their song Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine, used the same melody with new words written by A.P.
Woody had probably heard Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine on the radio in 1938. He may have also been familiar with the hymn, but The Carter Family didn’t record it until 1945. This doesn’t mean that they could not have been playing it on the radio before it was recorded.
Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
Many a night while you lay sleeping
Dreaming of your rambler's life
Lay a poor boy brokenhearted
Listening to the wind outside
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
Many a day with you I've rambled
Countless hours with you I've spent
Thought I had your heart forever
But I find it only lent
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
There is just three things I wish for
That's a casket, shroud, and grave
When I'm dead, don't weep for me
Just kiss those lips that you betrayed
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine
(Well, that was a bright, cheerful little song, wasn’t it?)
This Land Is Your Land
There are a couple of changes that Woody made to the melody. The original is written in the ABCD format; meaning a different melodic idea for each of the verse’s four lines. Woody changed it to ABAC; so that the third line is a repeat of the first, and the fourth line is something entirely different.
Woody didn’t record This Land Is Your Land until 1944. He was approached by Alan Lomax, who with his father, John, had been driving all around Appalachia collecting folk songs for decades for the Library of Congress. Alan wanted to start putting American folk songs into school music books, and he wanted This Land Is Your Land. Woody sold him the rights to do this for $1.
This Land Is Your Land
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 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've roamed and rambled and I 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.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
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.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
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.
The version that I learned as a child, and that was put into school music books, lacked the last three verses.
Is this a folk song?
What makes this song a folk song? We know so much about it, and usually with folk music we know so little. In this case, we need to revisit the definition of folk song:
- a song originating among the people of a country or area, passed by oral tradition from one singer or generation to the next, often existing in several versions, and marked generally by simple, modal melody and stanzaic, narrative verse.
- a song of similar character written by a known composer.
This song falls into the second part of the definition. It has a simple melody and a stanzaic, narrative verse. (Stanzaic – meaning it contains verses or stanzas) As the years have passed, it has gone through the oral tradition as well and has had many people sing it in their own way, often adding or subtracting verses. And the song continues to grow and change as people from Bruce Springsteen to Lady Gaga (who humorously combined it with God Bless America!) to Queen Latifah sing it.
Proving its folk song status even more, the song has been translated into many different languages and used as songs of national pride all over the world. Here’s a verse that they add in Canada:
This land is your land, This land is my land,
From Bonavista, to the Vancouver Island
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters,
This land was made for you and me.
As a final note (la!) here’s what Woody put on the copywrite notice for this song:
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do.
Were you taught This Land Is Your Land in school? Have you ever heard the versions from other countries? I’ll be posting several versions this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check those out.
Until next time!
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