Democracy Now presents a full hour memorial to one of our great American Heros - a true "Man of The People" - Woody Guthrie. During the oppressive tyrannical oligarchy of our present day, Woody's message is as relevant as it was during the last Great Depression, supporting the real America and speaking out on the unjust suffering of a brutal, uncaring and false American Dictatorship. Gather your family around and appreciate this very good hour, remembering a man and his message of what Americas promise is to us all and how we have to fight, suffer, bleed and die to obtain it.
The full video is presented here following this brief introduction - or watch it at Democracy Now.
"Commemorations are
being held across the country this year to mark the 100th anniversary of
the birth of one of the country’s greatest songwriters, Woody Guthrie.
Born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma, Guthrie wrote hundreds of
folk songs, including "This Land Is Your Land," "Pastures of Plenty,"
"Pretty Boy Floyd," "Do Re Mi" and "The Ranger’s Command." While Guthrie
is best remembered as a musician, he also had a deeply political side.
At the height of McCarthyism, Guthrie spoke out for labor and civil
rights and against fascism. In this one-hour special, you will hear
interviews and music from folk singer Pete Seeger, the British musician
Billy Bragg, and the historian Will Kaufman, author of the new book,
"Woody Guthrie, American Radical."
"Woody’s original songs, the songs that he wrote back in the 1930s ... with these images of people losing their houses to the banks, of gamblers on the stock markets making millions, when ordinary working people can’t afford to make ends meet, and of people dying for want of proper free healthcare, you know, this song could have been written anytime in the last five years, really, in the United States of America," says Bragg, who has long been inspired by Guthrie.
Guthrie’s most famous song, “This Land Is Your Land,” was written in 1940 in response to Kate Smith’s "God Bless America.” "Woody saw ['God Bless America'] as a strident, jingoistic, complacent, tub-thumping anthem to American greatness,” Kaufman says. “And now, he had just come from the Dust Bowl. He’d just come from the barbed-wire gates of California’s Eden there. He’d seen the Hoovervilles. He’d seen the bread lines. He’d seen labor activists getting their heads busted. And so, he’s thinking, what — God bless — what America, you know, is Kate Smith singing of?” In 2009, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen performed “This Land Is Your Land” for the inauguration of President Obama."
[From Democracy Now - http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/4/woody_guthrie_at_100_pete_seeger]
Full version "This Land Is Your Land."
"Woody’s original songs, the songs that he wrote back in the 1930s ... with these images of people losing their houses to the banks, of gamblers on the stock markets making millions, when ordinary working people can’t afford to make ends meet, and of people dying for want of proper free healthcare, you know, this song could have been written anytime in the last five years, really, in the United States of America," says Bragg, who has long been inspired by Guthrie.
Guthrie’s most famous song, “This Land Is Your Land,” was written in 1940 in response to Kate Smith’s "God Bless America.” "Woody saw ['God Bless America'] as a strident, jingoistic, complacent, tub-thumping anthem to American greatness,” Kaufman says. “And now, he had just come from the Dust Bowl. He’d just come from the barbed-wire gates of California’s Eden there. He’d seen the Hoovervilles. He’d seen the bread lines. He’d seen labor activists getting their heads busted. And so, he’s thinking, what — God bless — what America, you know, is Kate Smith singing of?” In 2009, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen performed “This Land Is Your Land” for the inauguration of President Obama."
[From Democracy Now - http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/4/woody_guthrie_at_100_pete_seeger]
Full version "This Land Is Your Land."
This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
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