In 1944 Woody Guthrie recorded, “This Land is Your Land”, perhaps one of the most well-known American folk songs, as relevant today as the day it was written.
The depth of beauty in this song may come from its unsung depths; there are protest verses, social commentary about hunger and the privatization of land, that were written but never recorded.
Woody wrote this song in response to the blind patriotism cultivated in: “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin. The idea that America was made for all pushed social issues to the forefront; Guthrie apparently chose the simplest, most powerful message to launch the legacy of the song into the mainstream; hoping the ideal of an America for you and me could, someday, be fully realized.