THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND (ALTERNATE LYRICS)

(WOODY GUTHRIE) (Jan 7, 1952)

WOODY GUTHRIE (© CNN)

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'This Land Is Your Land' comes from Guthrie's last commercial session, made for Decca on January 7, 1952. In 1992 producer Milt Gabler admitted that if he'd known how ill Guthrie was, he never would have scheduled a session.
Two songs were attempted: 'Kissin' On', a children's song, and his enduring 'This Land Is Your Land.'
Although some may argue that this track should never be released, in many ways it offers a fitting close to all the music that precedes it. Like the Huntington's Chorea that clearly ravaged Guthrie's motor skills, McCarthyism and paranoia eroded the idealism and optimism that fueled the People's Songs era. And like Guthrie's enduring anthem, the music continues to live on.

Ronald D. Cohen & Dave Samuelson, liner notes for "Songs for Political Action," Bear Family Records BCD 15720 JL, 1996, p. 197.

Lyrics as reprinted ibid., p. 203.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From the redwood forest to the New York island.
From the snow-capped mountains to the Gulf Stream waters
This land is made for you and me.

As I go walkin' my ribbon of highway
I see all around me my blue blue skyway
Everywhere around me the wind keeps a-whistlin'
This land is made for you and me.

I'm a-chasin' my shadow out across this roadmap
To my wheat fields waving, to my cornfield dancing
As I go walkin' this wind keeps talkin'
This land is made for you and me.

I can see your mailbox, I can see your doorstep
I can feel my wind rock your tip-top treetop
All around your house there my sunbeam whispers
This land is made for you and me.

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