This Land Is Your Land

Those of you who live in the U.S. probably know this American folk song “This Land Is Your Land”. It was written by Woody Guthrie, who was a folk singer and it became one of the songs most associated with him.

Guthrie came into this world in 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. His songs told of the real West and introduced people to harsh environments and hard-working people for whom life was anything but easy. A complete contrast to Hollywood movies that showed cowboys enjoying life and happy dance hall women. Guthrie worked as a migrant laborer in the summertime.

Like the dream of so many during that time Guthrie took off to travel the country when he was 15, as they say by riding the rails or aboard freight trains. The two possessions that were always with him were his harmonica and guitar. He found that the migrant workers and hobos that he met were an eager audience for the country-folk songs he had picked up and heard in Oklahoma. His association with the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression earned him the nickname “Dust Bowl Troubadour”.

Finally in 1937 Guthrie headed for California hoping he could be a singer of Western type songs. He got to perform on some of the radio shows on the West Coast. After a while he discovered that he could do better writing and performing his own musical pieces about the things he experienced and saw among the people during the Great Depression. He wrote many songs during this period among the “Pretty Boy Floyd” and “Dust Bowl Refugee.”

Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” to reflect his support of the plight of the hard-working common people and show the deep love he had for his country. The song tells about the beauty of America and the chorus expresses that the country is for all kinds of folks whether they are poor or rich. Guthrie wrote thousands of songs but this remains his most popular.

Guthrie traveled to the Pacific Northwest where is wrote songs to support federal dam building and projects to do with electrical power. Some of his songs at this time were “Grand Coulee Dam” and “Roll On Columbia”.

Eventually Guthrie moved to New York City where his singing career was interrupted by WW II. After he had done his service in the Merchant Marines he went back to New York and continued singing for the people. Tragedy struck when doctors found out he had Huntington’s Disease in 1954, the same disease his mom had died from.

Due to this illness Guthrie spent the last years of his life in a New York hospital. There he received many visitors like a young Bob Dylan, who was a great fan and who liked his musical style later copying it. I guess for this reason there have been times when I have confused a Guthrie song with a Dylan song. Guthrie passed on in 1967, having had the pleasure of seeing the popularity of his song “This Land Is Your Land” which had become a song for the Civil Rights movement.

Among Guthrie’s most lasting and influential songs are “So Long (It’s Been Good to Know Yuh)” and “Blowing Down This Old Dusty Road.” You could say as everyone continues to drift along in life it was good to get to know the music of Woody Guthrie and get to know what America really is like and about its people.

Guthrie had become a legendary folk figure by the time he passed on 1967. He influenced such singers as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen who both became successful in their singing careers. A film version was made of the Guthrie’s autobiography “Bound For Glory” in 1976. In 1998 a collection of Guthrie’s unrecorded lyrics were set to music and released in the album Mermaid Avenue, followed by Mermaid Avenue Volume II in 2000. The music was performed by British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco. It included songs like “California Stars.”