| "This Land Is Your Land" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Woody Guthrie | |
| Published | September 1, 1945 |
| Recorded | November 1944 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Songwriter(s) | Woody Guthrie |
| Audio sample | |
"This Land Is Your Land", Woody Guthrie | |
"This Land Is Your Land" is a song by American folk singer Woody Guthrie. One of the United States' most famous folk songs, its lyrics were written in 1940 in critical response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Its melody is based on a Carter Family tune called "When the World's on Fire". When Guthrie was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing "God Bless America" on the radio in the late 1930s, he sarcastically called his song "God Blessed America for Me" before renaming it "This Land Is Your Land".[1]
In 1989, a 1947 release on the Asch record label was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[2]
In 2002, "This Land Is Your Land" was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.[3] In 2021, it was listed at No. 229 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[4]
- ^ Spitzer, Nick. "The Story Of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land'". NPR.org. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
- ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com.
- ^ "The National Recording Registry 2002". The National Recording Preservation Board. 2002.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 15, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2022.