Woody Guthrie's birth centenary is almost upon us (July 14) and it's time to deal with some uneasy feelings America's favourite folk song has always stirred in me. As a spoken piece my take on This Land Is Your Land ends with a change of tone and pace in the last line, which looks a bit flat on the page, working best in performance - when it can be followed by singing (reflectively rather than exultantly) the opening verse of Guthrie's original.  

 

DIDN'T YOU EVER SEE THINGS THIS WAY WOODY?

"This land is your land?" asked the pale-faced stranger.

"This land is my land," the red man answered,

"With its sparkling waters, all its woods and mountains,

This land was made for you and me."

 

"So you think it's your land?" asked the white man coldly,

And stepping closer said, "I think it's my land."

Then he killed the red man ; looked all around him,

"This land was made for you - now me."

 

"When I've done walking, I'll make ten thousand highways

And fireproof buidings standing in the skyways.

The whole world over, they'll do things my way :

These lands were made for me to use."

 

"These lands ain't your land, these lands are my land,

In the South Pacific, Middle East and Asia.

The God we trust in gave these lands to me."

Lands  that  have  seen  too  much  U S A.

                                                                       John  Hepworth,  May 2012