Emotions following a summer of BLM, a winter of insurrection, and ongoing pandemic
This version of this song has brought me to tears lately, no exaggeration. I like the images in this video:
Reconciliation and cleaning up
The song is about the opposite of division. It’s about generosity. Not that one video will heal much, but I hope it helps.
Many voices are speaking loudly in America today. I don’t hear a single one that speaks for me or nearly anyone I know, but I hear many that speak for themselves. Multiple sides accuse the other of hatred. I hear no one saying how much they hurt, but they sound like they do. Nor is anyone saying they’ll listen to others and help make them feel understood.
I’ve been singing this song during my daily picking up litter, remarking at the contrast between the beauty of the land that Woody Guthrie wrote about and the garbage we as a culture have chosen to strew about. I think as a nation we’ve abandoned the value of healthy, clean landscapes, beaches, and waterways, in favor, I guess, of fracking.
It’s a shame. The strife and degradation wound me, I’m not ashamed to admit. I would think we could create less trash, but more appears every year. Probably three-quarters of the people I see are carrying something disposable—usually a disposable coffee cup or disposable plastic bag carrying something disposable inside, like doof.
I ask rhetorically, since I think we both know the answer: will we ever see a clean Earth again—the land free of plastic, the air safe to breathe, clear water? It’s not going to stop me from doing my part and trying to lead others. Maybe you’ll pick up trash too, and endeavor to buy nothing disposable ever again.
My favorite version
I learned it as a children’s song and only the chorus. Bruce turns it adult, plaintive, almost mournful. I’ll copy the lyrics to the whole song below. I consider it beautiful. Here’s his version from his live album that came out when I was in high school in Philadelphia.
Lyrics
[Chorus]
This land is your land, and this land is my land
From the California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Verse 1]
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Verse 2]
I’ve roamed and rambled, and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Verse 3]
When the sun comes shining as I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[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!
[Chorus]
This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Verse 5]
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
[Chorus]
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Verse 6]
Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me
Here’s a longer version from 1985 in Los Angeles, Reagan era.
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