One would also hope that he would include two verses that were not on the original recording. Two verses that Woody's best friend, Pete Seeger vowed to sing, whenever he sang the song. As far as I know, Pete did sing them, at least every time I heard him sing the song, both on stage, and in smaller "hootenanny" style groups. Personally they are my favorite verses.
Here's the lyrics in case anyone forgot them:
This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie
This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and 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.
When I was growing up in Brooklyn, I thought that this was an "official" song, like the Star Spangled Banner. We sang it in elementary school assembly all the time. It wasn't until I was in Junior High School that I found out who actually wrote it. I started to look at Woody's activism, as well as Pete's. It was then that I think I got the activist bug. It has never left.
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