Woody Guthrie’s Anthem This Land Is Your Land Turns 86 Today

On this day in 1940 Woody Guthrie sat down with a sheet of loose leaf paper and without knowing it penned what is for many of us the most vivid, truthful American Anthem ever written. I don’t know if it’s still taught in grade schools but in the 1960s when I was that age we sang it every year in “music class.” Countless millions of us have sung it countless times since. Including I might add that epic pre-inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial before Obama’s inauguration. Guthrie’s youngest daughter who was there recalls her tears at see how EVERYONE in the crowd knew the words and sang along.

One assumes Guthrie was sitting someplace out in the plains states when he wrote the song but he was actually in a small room he was living in in New York City. Why did he write it? It was a response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America. It’s not so much that Guthrie didn’t like Berlin’s song but he felt it glossed over too much. He somewhat sarcastically started with a title of “God Blessed America For Me” before crossing those words out and creating the title we all know. But in the Guthrie Museum in Tulsa you can see Guthrie’s handwritten version including that crossed out original title.

Again, Guthrie wasn’t anti-America or hating of Berlin’s God Bless America so much as wanting to speak in more plain terms about all of this country, both the best parts and not so great parts. His daughter Nora said he told her it was because he ‘loved the parts that were pretty that he wanted to fix the parts that weren’t.’ For a folk singer who either taped a sign or painted the words “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitar when he performed it’s no wonder Guthrie came up with his epic poem.

Even more interestingly than his living in New York (soaking up stories from regular folks in the park and turning them into songs) was that the poem sat for four years before he recorded it. While the recording released didn’t include a verse over which there’s been debate the Smithsonian has the original test pressing (on vinyl) that includes one of two verses omitted from most renditions.  When I learned the song it was in an upbeat way but listening to Guthrie sing it is like listening to Dylan (who was inspired by Guthrie I should add) with a better voice, just singing the words without much inflection and letting them speak for themselves:

Those words are powerful. Even raw but in a beautiful way.  This song is America, which is why it’s stood up to the test of time. I know with everything going on we having been missing ‘the pretty’ but there’s still plenty out there. However there’s plenty that ‘needs fixing’ too.  Bruce Springsteen does a rendition where in the intro he calls it the greatest song about America ever written. He goes on to speak about struggles of so many who have lost faith the song is true anymore. Springsteen then says ‘Maybe it isn’t – but it ought to be.’

That’s it in a single statement. It ought to be.  You know what? It can be but only if WE make it that way again. Too many have given up. Not many come to this or other similar sites (even the granddaddy of political blogs Daily Kos is begging!) anymore but those who do need to get others engaged. The will, and the energy IS out there. We’ve seen it in the No Kings marches. And the third one is coming up so if you haven’t found one in your area start looking or help create a local one that day. We’ve seen how around the country people rallied to support the incredible resistance to ICE fascism and murder in Minneapolis. All over the country, even in deep red places locals are blocking ICE from setting up new Concentration Camps.  And that’s EXACTLY what those warehouses are intended to be. The Crematoriums will come later if Trump and Miller get their way.

My point is that there are people willing to stand up and tell Trump NO. And it’s important we keep immense pressure on GOP elected officials by letting them know it’s not just one or two things like ICE occupations and deportations or blowing up suspected drug running boats at sea (instead of stopping them and arresting the people if drug/contraband are found) but a whole range of issues. Affordability. Health care and hospital (and medical practice) closures due to Medicaid cuts.  New outrages come up if not every day then multiple times a week.

Most Americans don’t have time to scour the news and dig into things to raise hell with Republican Congress Critters about. But here, that’s what our writers do. We look and look and tell you not just about what gets major attention but what, in the flood of news too often gets overlooked. We do the heavy lifting so those who come to this or other sites don’t have to. That’s why I implore those of you who do in fact come here encourage others to do so.

We also try to motivate people. Sometimes using humor and satire, and sometimes in more thoughtful ways. This is an example of the latter. If you get into it with a MAGA start singing Guthrie’s uniquely American Anthem. I guarantee they will know the words. If you can get them to join in, then you have a bit of common ground on which to talk TO each other than AT each other.  If they don’t like how things are remind them the GOP has been in charge in the WH and in at least one chamber (sometimes both) more than Republicans in the last ten years.  Well, I’m getting off topic. I’ll leave you with the lyrics Guthrie wrote, including two verses that didn’t get recorded for public consumption early on:

This land was made for ALL of us. It’s been up to each generation to make that a reality but if we’ve fallen short it’s our duty to keep trying. Not just for ourselves and the country that despite its flaws we love but for the world.  It’s up to ALL of us to carry on the noble goal of becoming “A more perfect Union.”

Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula

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