Story behind huge Woody Guthrie hit on anniversary of his death
Story behind huge Woody Guthrie hit on anniversary of his death
Demetria Osei-TutuFri, October 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC
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Woody Guthrie wrote the famous, This Land is Your Land (Image: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Woody Guthrie had a reason for writing the famous US folk song This Land Is Your Land.
The late musician (born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie) passed away on October 3, 1967, at the age of 55 from Huntington's disease (HD). Woody is considered one of the most important figures in American folk music and is also influential musically and politically. He has influenced the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Lou Reed, Dropkick Murphys, and more.
His classic track, This Land Is Your Land, written in February 1940, is often mistaken for a pro-American anthem and is usually sung as such today, but it was a critical response to Irving Berlin's God Bless America. God Bless America is a famous patriotic song-sung at sporting events, patriotic holidays, and national remembrance events-and was penned by Irving to be so.
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Woody was known for writing music that delved into themes of American life and anti-fascism, as well as about the hardships of life in America, including The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, and being a working-class American.
Those radical songs included Tear the Fascists Down, Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos), Union Maid, Do Re Mi and even his most well-known song, This Land Is Your Land.
Woody made This Land is Your Land as a commentary to Irving Berlin's God Bless America (Image: Bettmann Archive)
The Oklahoma-born activist was so tired of hearing God Bless America sung by Kate Smith on the radio in 1939. According to The Kennedy Center, Woody believed the song was "too sappy, too blindly patriotic, and too cut off from the hard-knock life many Americans were facing as the Great Depression" as it entered its tenth year.
Woody had been firsthand aware of the struggles Americans faced, especially as a teen who had to fend for himself after financial turmoil and personal tragedy struck his family.
As a teen, he hopped trains and hitchhiked across the country. During those times, Woody would encounter former farmers, laid-off factory workers, and migrants, and he would soon use his music to tell the stories of their adventures, dreams, and woes.
Woody has writen over 3,000 songs (Image: Getty Images)
So, in February 1940, he decided to write his song to counter God Bless America. According to Joe Klein's Woodie Guthrie: A Life, Woody wrote the song at the Hanover hotel in New York City.
Per the Kennedy Center, Woody initially titled the song "God Blessed America For Me," and in the original lyrics, the words were in the last line of each verse.
The phrase was meant to be sarcastic and cynically take aim at the patriotic track's meaning. The new song debuted on Woody's weekly radio show in 1944, and he revised the title to This Land is Your Land.
When the song was officially released, reportedly in 1951 by Folkways Records, it did not include the two verses that were originally written in 1940. The two verses criticized aspects of American life, such as private property and hunger.
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The omitted verses from the original are below:
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?
Many performers today skip the critical omitted verses. But there are some who sing the song in its original state, such as Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger at President Barack Obama's inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in 2009.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
