THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND (Parody) Woody Guthrie | Don Caron

New lyrics for one of the most famous and well-known songs in the US. Ironically, Woody Guthrie wrote this song in response to “God Bless America” which he apparently found irritating. You can read more about that in the description following the lyrics below.

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LYRICS to THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND PARODY

This land is your land if you can buy it
But it’s expensive, go ahead and try it
The public lands are a different story
for mining and for drilling they are free.

We’re low on water the supply is throttled
‘Cause Nestle bought it for their plastic bottles
Now you’re restricted on your water usage
But Nestle can have all they want for free

As I was watching the pipeline crackdown
Water protectors were being shot down
Their only purpose to save the water
This land is not the thing it claims to be

I saw a black man protest oppression
I saw him punished for that transgression
He said his action was against injustice
they told him that he couldn’t take a knee

I saw our young men in foreign conflict
Killing and dying in wars the rich picked
They never realized they had been lied to
They thought their fight would help to keep us free

I watched Monsanto poison the wheat fields
The bread of life won’t be what that wheat yields
Death and disease now, their poison spreading
This is not the way that it should be

I saw a conman in the highest station
A dreaded symbol of a dying nation
Only massive action from the grassroots level
Could pull us from the depths of this melee

We have elections that are fast approaching
there is topic that is well worth broaching
Follow the money and not the party
Or you’ll be tricked again just wait and see

Without our action we’ll never see changes
A sweeping movement could be contagious
It’ll never happen if we don’t have courage
to open our eyes and truly see

And when the sun comes shining, and we are living
in a land of freedom without misgiving
A voice will echo as the fog is lifting
This land was made for you and me
 

INFO ON THE SOURCE MATERIAL

“This Land Is Your Land”
Song by Woody Guthrie
Published 1945
Recorded 1944
Genre Folk
Songwriter(s) Woody Guthrie

“This Land Is Your Land”
Song by Woody Guthrie
Published 1945
Recorded 1944
Genre Folk
Songwriter(s) Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie in 1943

“This Land Is Your Land” is one of the United States’ most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1940, based on an existing melody, a Carter Family tune called “When the World’s on Fire”, in critical response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”

When Guthrie was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing “God Bless America” on the radio in the late 1930s, he sarcastically wrote “God Blessed America for Me” before renaming it “This Land Is Your Land.”

In 2002, “This Land Is Your Land” was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Guthrie’s melody was very similar to the melody of “Oh, My Loving Brother”, a Baptist gospel hymn that had been recorded by the Carter Family as “When the World’s On Fire” and had inspired their “Little Darlin’, Pal of Mine.” He used the same melody for the chorus and the verses.

The original lyrics were composed on February 23, 1940, The line “This land was made for you and me” does not appear in the manuscript at the end of each verse, but is implied by Guthrie’s writing of those words at the top of the page and by his subsequent singing of the line with those words.

The original title was “God Blessed America,” but it was struck out and replaced by “This Land Was Made For You & Me.” It appears therefore that the original 1940 title was “This Land.”

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From the California to the Staten Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
God blessed America for me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway,
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
God blessed America for me.

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me, a voice was sounding:
God blessed America for me.

Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing —
God blessed America for me.

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:
God blessed America for me.

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people —
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me.

For more from Parody Project you can watch our parody of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Also we have Tippy Top, a commentary on the Nuclear Posture Review of 2018.