‘This Land Is Your Land’
It has been a heck of a week. So this Sunday we decided to give you a patriotic Reason To Smile. As part of his “Born in the U.S.A.” tour in 1985, Bruce Springsteen included “This Land Is Your Land” on his setlist.
Springsteen called the song “one of the most beautiful” and “the greatest song ever written about America.”
Folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote what has become a classic in 1940. According to biographer Joe Klein, “he completely forgot about the song, and didn’t do anything with it for another five years.” Guthrie then recorded the song to help celebrate our country at the end of World War II.
The melody is based on an old gospel hymn and a song by the Carter Family called “When the World’s on Fire.”
“This Land Is Your Land” is on a lot of “best” lists. Rolling Stone included the song in its “Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” In 2002, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.
Countless musicians have sung and recorded this classic American folk song, but I am partial to Springsteen’s soulful version. And I’ve always liked the harmonica.
A reason to smile.
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America IS beautiful and we are indeed fortunate, thus far anyway, to live here in a free land.
But let's not lose sight of how it came to be, and the free societies that lived here first and were decimated by our forefathers, who were ALL IMMIGRANTS, every one of them. Maybe it's time to make reparations to all the indigenous people who have survived, and possibly reparations to those our immigrant ancestors stole from their homeland and brought here to toil in service to them.
And to remain open to those who are looking to us for the chance to live here where they can be free from oppression and danger. Then we can truly sing about how "...this land was made for you and me."
Thank you! I remember when Peter, Paul and Mary came to my small women’s college in Chicago and this song was performed. I’ve never heard Bruce do it and it’s amazing! We need to preserve this beautiful country from those who want to destroy it for money. Vote!