Woody Guthrie born July 14, 1912

[Jack Rabbit]

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please joing in singing
Our National Anthem

(G)This land is (C)your land This land is my (G)land
From Cali(D7)fornia to the New York (G)island;
From the redwood (C)forest to the Gulf Stream (G)waters
This (D7)land was made for you and (G)Me.

As I was 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.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

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.

Photo from WoodyGuthrie.org

[HuckleB]

1. Tell me about it in 150 minutes or so.

Woody is a hero of mine.

Salud, Woodie!

[CanuckAmok]

2. I loved him in "Cheers".

I joke! I joke!

[HuckleB]

6. Oui. Oui.

Is your real name Henri?

;)

[SeanQuinn]

3. Free, legal, original recording from Univ. of Virginia:

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/music/audio/mp3/this_land.mp3

[enigmatic]

4. I'm putting that on my show tonight

Thanks for this!

[SeanQuinn]

5. It's only the first two verses. I just noticed that. I think it is...

public domain now. nt

[enigmatic]

7. I mean I'm putting the song on my show

Just put it into the rotation; I forgot it's Woody's birthday tomorrow..

[oioioi]

8. The Good Ruben James

It was there in the dark of that cold and dark night
They watched for the U-boats and they waited for the fight
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion's roar
And they laid the Ruben James on that cold ocean floor

What were their names, tell me what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the Good Ruben James?

Now many years have passed since those brave men are gone
And those cold icy waters, now they're still and they're calm
Many years have passed but still I wonder why
The worst of men start fights so the best of men will die

What were their names, tell me what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the Good Ruben James?

[Jack Rabbit]

13. The final verse was written years later by Fred Hellerman

Fred Hellerman was one of the Weavers, along with Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes and Ronnie Gilbert.

I would update that verse with a slight aleration (emphasis added):

Now many years have passed since those brave men are gone
And those cold icy waters, now they're still and they're calm
Many years have passed but still I wonder why
The worst of men start fights so decide that the best of men will die.

[Liberal In Texas]

9. "City of New Orleans" just went through my head when I saw that...

Now other songs, he was a great writer about the fledgling unions.

Met his son, Arlo.

Another great guy.

We're here in spirit, Woody...L

[Zomby Woof]

10. Pastures of Plenty

It's a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed
My poor feet have traveled a hot dusty road
Out of your Dust Bowl and Westward we rolled
And your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold

I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes
I slept on the ground in the light of the moon
On the edge of the city you'll see us and then
We come with the dust and we go with the wind

California, Arizona, I harvest your crops
Well it's north up to Oregon to gather your hops
Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine
To set on your table your light sparkling wine

Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground
From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down
Every state in the Union us migrants have been
We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win

It's always we rambled, that river and I
All along your green valley, I will work till I die
My land I'll defend with my life if need be
Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Bump

(G)If you'll gather 'round me, children,
A (C)story I will (G)tell
'Bout (C)Pretty Boy Floyd, an (D7)outlaw,
Okla(C)homa knew him (G)well.

It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An' his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

More

[Jack Rabbit]

12. And my favorite verse . . .

Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. Deportee

Guthrie oringinally presented this as a field hollar. Music was added later by Martin Hoffman.

(G)The crops are all in and the (C)peaches are (G)rotting,
The oranges piled in their (C)creosote (G)dumps;
They're (C)flying 'em back to the (G)Mexican border
To pay all their money to (C)wade back a(G)gain.

(G)Good(C)bye to my Juan, good(G)bye, Rosalita,
A(D7)dios mis amigos, Je(G)sus y Maria;
You (C)won't have your names when you (G)ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will (C)be "depor(G)tee".

More

[Zomby Woof]

15. Grand Coulee Dam

Well the world owns seven wonders as the travellers always tell.
Some gardens and some towers, I guess you know them well.
But now the greatest wonder is in Uncle Sam's fair land.
That King Columbia River and the great Grand Coulee Dam.

She come up the Canadian Rockies where the crystal waters glide,
Comes a-roaring down the canyon to meet that salty tide
From the great Pacific Ocean to where the sun sets in the west,
That big Grand Coulee country in that land I love the best.

In the misty glitter of that wild and windward spray,
Men have fought the pounding waters and met a watery grave.
Once she tore men's boats to splinters but she gave men dreams to dream,
That day that Grand Coulee dam went across that wild and restless stream.

Oh Uncle Sam took up the notion in the year of thirty three,
For the factory and the farmer and for all of you and me.
He said: roll it on Columbia, you can roll out to the sea
But river, while you're rolling you can do some work for me.

Now from Washington and Oregon you can hear them factories a-hum,
Making corn and making mangonies lying all over the ground.
Always a flying fortress to blast for Uncle Sam,
That King ColumbiaRriver and the great Grand Coulee dam.

Well the world owns seven wonders as the travellers always tell.
Some gardens and some towers, I guess you know them well.
But now the greatest wonder is in Uncle Sam's fair land.
That King Columbia river and the great Grand Coulee Dam.

[Jack Rabbit]

16. Hard, Ain't It Hard

(G)It's a-hard and it's hard, ain't it (C)hard
To (G)love one that never did love (D7)you?
It's a-(G)hard, and it's hard, ain't it (C)hard, great God,
To (G)love one that (D7)never will be (G)true?

(G)There is a house in (C)this old town,
And that's (G)where my true love lays a(D7)round.
And she (G)takes other men right (C)down on her knee
And she (G)tells them a little (D7)tale she won't tell (G)me.

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