This Land That I Love
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APPENDIX: THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF “THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND” WOODY GUTHRIE HANDWROTE THE FIRST DRAFT of what became his most famous song on February 23, 1940; the manuscript is repro- duced on page 153. By the time he recorded it twice for Moses Asch circa 1944 and 1945, Woody had changed the tag line to “This land was made for you and me,” and the fi rst verse had become the song’s chorus. In one re- cording, he sang the chorus, the fi rst, second, and fourth verses from the 1940 manuscript (“ribbon of highway,” “diamond deserts,” and “dust clouds rolling”), the chorus again, and the fourth verse again. This became the best-known version. In the other recording, he sang the chorus, the fi rst four verses in the order of the 1940 manuscript, adding the “private property” verse, and the chorus again. Neither the Woody Guthrie Archives nor the Smithsonian Institution has a record of him ever having sung the fi fth verse (about the relief offi ce). In 1945 he introduced the “freedom highway” verse and “Canadian mountain” to the chorus in his typed and mimeographed songbook 10 of Woody Guthrie’s Songs. In the typescript, the song is written in all upper-case letters. The “Private Property” and “relief offi ce” verses 211 9781610392235-text2.indd 211 8/21/13 11:02 AM 212 Appendix are gone. Other changes are introduced: in the “ribbon of highway” and the “dust clouds rolling” verses, the wind is “saying, / This land is made for you and me.” The book gives the song two titles: “This Land Is Made for You and Me” and “This Land.” The Woody Guthrie Archives’ folder of documents related to “This Land Is Your Land” holds four typescripts of the song, three of them undated. The fi rst two versions have substantially the same words, with different lineation. The fi rst sheet, labeled “Version 1—Songs 1,” keeps the “Canadian mountain” and the “ribbon of highway” and “diamond deserts” verses, and it introduces a new verse, which comes last. The title is “This Land Is Made for You and Me.” Handwritten in the top right corner is the signature “typed wg.” I saw your mail box and saw your door step I saw the wind rock your tallest tree top I heard the voice speak as the smoke came a rolling: This land is made for you and me. The sheet labeled “Songs—1, Version 2, Notebook 78,” has the same chorus and three verses, but the words are typed into seven-line stanzas rather than four-line stanzas, each half-line getting its own line, except the last of each verse and chorus, “This land is made for you and me.” Some of the punctuation is different, and a few words are changed. The wind in the new “mail box” verse is no longer “the” wind; it’s “my” wind. The sheet labeled “Songs—1, Version 4,” is the only one that is dated. Woody gives the date and place of the original draft, “Hanover House, 1940; NYC”; then gives the date of the revision, “RE: BHB Bkyn., May 29th, 1951.” (I don’t know what “BHB” refers to.) Titled “This Land,” it feels to me like the third version, but the archive has labeled it number 4. It keeps the “ribbon of highway” and the new “mailbox” verse, and the “Canadian mountain” is still in the chorus. The “diamond desert” has changed, and it introduces a new stanza. Pete Seeger marked up this draft in pencil, adding a note, “Should have one verse about people,” and crossing out “Canadian mountain” and replacing it with “Great Lakes.” 9781610392235-text2.indd 212 8/21/13 11:02 AM Appendix 213 I roam and I ramble I follow my footsteps To the mineral mountain And the chemical desert; The mistcloud lifting, The windsvoice telling me: “This land is made for you and me.” (((Chorus))) I chased my shadow All across this roadmap To the wheatfi eld waving, To the cornfi eld dancing; My skyvoice talking: As I go walking: “This land is made for you and me.” ((Chorus)) I can see your mailbox, I can see your doorstep; I can see that wind shake Your tallest treetop; All around your house there I can hear my voice ring: “This land is made for you and me.” (((Chorus))) This typescript (without Seeger’s revisions) is very close to the demo that Woody recorded for the Decca Records in January 1952. Bear Family Records in Germany released this version in 1996 on the ten-CD compilation Songs for Political Action. The accompanying 9781610392235-text2.indd 213 8/21/13 11:02 AM 214 Appendix booklet published a transcription of what Woody sang, including the two previously unpublished verses. What I take to be the last version the archive labels “Songs—1, Version 3.” From the standard version, it includes only the “ribbon of highway” verse and the chorus. The chorus’s “mountain” is no longer “Canadian”—it’s “snowcappy.” Other spelling unorthodoxies creep in, as they did with much of Guthrie’s writing in the 1950s. The two new verses from versions 1, 2, and 4 are here, as well as a new fi nal verse, about singing, dancing, scattering seed, and building a “love- house.” It’s very close to the Richmond demo, recorded in December 1951, which the Richmond Organization typed up but never made public. The last verse has never been published before. THIS LAND Words & Music by Woody Guthrie As I go walking My ribbon of highway, I see all around me My blue, blue skyway; And everywhere around me This wind keeps whistling: “This land is made for you and me!” CHORUS: This land is your land! This land is my land! From the redwood forest To the New York island! From the snowcappy mountain To the gulfstream waters; This land is made for you and me! 9781610392235-text2.indd 214 8/21/13 11:02 AM Appendix 215 I’ma chasin’ my shadow Alla ’cross this roadmap, To my wheatfi eld waving, To my cornfi eld dancing; As I keepa walkin’, This wind keepsa talkin’: “This land is made for you and me!” (((((CHORUS))))))) I can see your mailbox; I can see your doorstep; I c’n feel my wind rock Your tiptop treetops; Alla ’round your house there, My sunbeam whispers: “This land is made for you and me!” (((((CHORUS))))))) I’ma helping my farmer To scatter my new seed; I’ma showin’ my builder Howta build your lovehouse; You just keepa dancin’ While I keepa singin’: “This land is made for you and me!” (((((((CHORUS AGAINSOME))))))))) ****************END*********************** ****************************************** Woody Guthrie 9781610392235-text2.indd 215 8/21/13 11:02 AM 216 Appendix Over more than a decade, Guthrie wrote nine verses to go with the chorus of “This Land Is Your Land.” No extant manuscript or typescript includes more than fi ve verses, and no recording that he made includes more than four, plus the chorus. The earliest stan- dard version included only the chorus and the three apolitical verses from the fi rst draft and earliest recordings. What is now the standard version includes the fi ve original verses and the “freedom highway” verse from 1945. Pete Seeger published this version in the 1970 re- print of American Favorite Ballads: Tunes and Songs as Sung by Pete Seeger. The title is “This Land Is Your Land.” The verses run: “ribbon of highway,” “diamond deserts,” “dust clouds rolling,” “relief offi ce,” “private property,” and “freedom highway.” Here is how Seeger ren- dered the fourth and fi fth verses in 1970: In the squares of the city by the shadow of the steeple By the relief offi ce I saw my people And some were stumbling and some were wondering if This land was made for you and me. As I went rambling that dusty highway I saw a sign that said private property But on the other side it didn’t say nothing This land was made for you and me. The current standard version reverses the order of the fourth and fi fth verses from Seeger’s 1970 publication. It also introduces more changes that don’t appear to be based on any manuscript or recording by 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. 9781610392235-text2.indd 216 8/21/13 11:02 AM Appendix 217 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 fi elds 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 offi ce 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.