We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

This Land Is Your Land

from For Your Confustication by Tom Smith

supported by
Jean Dudley
Jean Dudley thumbnail
Jean Dudley Because When we sang it in assembly in Jr High we never got to sing all the verses. Thanks Tom, for including them all in your recording. Much of what Woody wrote is unheard by the past 2 generations. Maybe at some concert you could sing Union Maid?
Eli Sokal
Eli Sokal thumbnail
jannyblue
jannyblue thumbnail
/

about

Written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 (to a Carter Family tune and in response to Kate Smith's "God Bless America"), this anthem to the United States encompasses the good and the bad. Most everyone knows the chorus, but the later verses make it a protest song. This is the most common published version, but there are some "lost" lines that are more indicting of the times; I hope to record that version live, with a bunch of people singing along.

lyrics

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.

(chorus)
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.

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.

credits

from For Your Confustication, released September 19, 2017
Words: Woody Guthrie
Music: "When The World's On Fire" by the Carter Family

license

tags

about

Tom Smith image

Tom Smith Ann Arbor

Weird Al with more books, JoCo with more jokes, Carlin with more Cthulhu. Since 1985, Tom Smith has been breaking hearts, minds, and laws of propriety and physics with his insane blend of sf/fantasy, Life With Computers, pop culture, politics, and puns. More than twenty albums later, he maintains the best is yet to come. ... more

contact / help

Contact Tom Smith

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Tom Smith, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now