This Land Is Your Land -- Woody Guthrie

This land is your land This land is my land From California to the New York island;
From the red wood 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.

When Guthrie started wrote the song in 1940, the last line in the chorus was "God blessed America for me," which Guthrie eventually changed into "This land was made for you and me." It evolved into a protest anthem as generations of Folk singers performed the song, but it is often misinterpreted as a patriotic song. The lyrics express Guthrie's belief that the working class should have the same rights as the rich.                             (songfacts)  


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