This Land Is Your Land Lyrics

[Verse 4]
When the sun comes shining then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice come chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

--------------------

The following verses are not included in this recording

[Verse 4]
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said "No trespassin'"
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!


[Verse 6]
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

This 20th century classic was covered by many artists, including the likes of Bob Dylan and even Bernie Sanders, but the original was written and sung by Woody Guthrie. Written in 1940, it was first recorded in 1944, though this 1944 version excluded the 4th and 6th verses, the ones about private property and hunger.

Via Bryan K. Garman:

Much like a Whitman poem, “This Land,” at least as it is sung in a vast majority of the tributes, represents things not as they are but as the author thinks they should be. And also like a Whitman poem, its romantic vision, which tries to realize the promise of freedom and equality, is often mistaken as an assessment of current social realities rather than an interrogation of them. To be sure few people know that Guthrie intended the song to serve as a Marxist corrective to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” and although biographer Joe Klein, Harold Leventhal, and Arlo Guthrie have publicized the fact since 1980, the song is so widely known and so widely sung that their efforts have had little impact on public perceptions of it. Because very few artists sing “This Land” in its entirety, it is virtually impossible to distinguish its patriotism from Berlin’s or even from more recent jingoistic songs such as Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” Like any other nationalistic anthem, it uncritically proclaims the United States the land of freedom and equality and lends credence to Guthrie’s reputation, in the words of Stewart Udall, as a legendary artist who expressed “the sense of identification that each citizen of our country feels toward this land and the wonders which it holds.”

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Woody Guthrie say about "This Land Is Your Land"?
Genius Answer

“After we built the Coolee Dam we had to sell the people out there a lot of bonds to get the money to buy the copper wire and high lines and pay a whole big bunch of people at work and I don’t know what all. We called them Public Utility Bonds, just about like a War Bond, same thing. (And a lot of politicians told the folks not to buy them but we sold them anyhow). The main idea about this song is, you think about these Eight words all the rest of your life and they’ll come a bubbling up into Eighty Jillion all Union. Try it and see. THIS LAND IS MADE FOR YOU AND ME.”
—Woody Guthrie, Library of Congress Archives

Credits
Written By
Release Date
1951
Songs That Sample This Land Is Your Land
This Land Is Your Land Live Performances
View This Land Is Your Land samples
Tags
Comments