Pete Seeger
This Land is Your Land (Live at the University of Tulsa, 1976)
[Verse 1]
As I went walking, the ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
(Sing it out, now!)
This land was made for you and me

[Chorus]
This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

[Verse 2]
Well, I roamed, and I rambled, and I followed my footsteps
To the sparking sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me, a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
(Everybody!)

[Chorus]
This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Interlude]
Now, some of you are singing just beautifully
But we need a little harmony

All the high tenors
And all the basses
And the contramezzo-sopranos!

Everybody's gotta get in on this, I mean everybody
If there’s anybody who's not singin'
Ohh, people’ll say, "Who're you?"

Woody wrote a lot of verses that did not get in the school songbooks
Here's one of them:

[Verse 3]
In the squares of the city, by the shadow of the steeple
By the welfare office, I saw my people
As they stood there hungry, I stood there whistling
This land was made for you and me
(Sing it out now!)

[Chorus]
This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
[Verse 4]
Was a big high wall there, that tried to stop me
Was a great big sign there, said "Private Property,"
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me
(Yes!)

[Chorus]
This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

[Interlude]
I think Woody would be glad that people are making up new verses to this all over
I've heard verses in Spanish, from New Mexico

Now that's a nice idea
There 'ought to be verses in French, in German, in Italian, in Polish, in Yiddish
In Choctaw, and Cherokee, and Kiowa also

Ever hear this verse?

[Verse 5]
This land is your land, but it once was my land
Before we sold you Manhattan Island
You pushed our Nations to the reservations
This land was stole by you from me
[Interlude]
Now, there was a friend of mine
A fine young black singer name Jimmy Collier singing this in Washington, D.C.,
Back in 1968 in the Poor People's Campaign

We were singing it together
Up comes ol’ Henry Crow Dog, from the Suix Indian delegation
He points his finger right in Jimmy’s chest
He says, 'Hey, you’re both wrong, it belongs to me!'

Jimmy stopped in the middle of the song
Said, "Maybe we shouldn't be singin' this song."

But Henry Crow Dog had a great sense of humor
He says, "No, if we’re down here together, to get something done, let's all sing it!"

[Chorus]
This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

[Verse 6]
Woodland and grassland and river shoreline
To everything living, bugs and snakes and microbes
Fin, fur, and feather, we're all here together
(That's ecology)
This land was made for you and me
(One more time!)

[Chorus]
This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me