"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
-- Edith Wharton
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"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." -- Edith Wharton
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Get Involved
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March 12, 2010 | |||||||
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 Whose Land Is This Land? by Wood Turner Posted July 4, 2002 As a purveyor of songs that existed to make a difference, Woody Guthrie created a "national anthem" for the ages and left a legacy of true patriotism. NEW Reader Responses are a goodthing! Join the conversation! Dear GoodLetter readers, On a recent trip to Atlanta, I saw a stage production of Woody Guthrie's American Song, a musical charting life in the Depression-era United States through Guthrie's music. The show is bursting with rousing performances of songs from across the Guthrie catalog and is narrated by a diverse cast of women and men, people of different classes and ethnicities, all of whom represent Guthrie and the America he knew. Compiled, his songs amount to a history lesson, with every single one demanding what I like to call "active listening." I had long had an appreciation for Guthrie's music and for This Land Is Your Land, but it wasn't until I saw and heard the song performed in the context of this show that I realized how truly profound and powerful it is. The goosebumps all over my arms and the lump in my throat were evidence that it had stirred my soul and captured my imagination in ways that more traditional patriotic songs never can and never will. This weekend marks the Independence Day holiday here in the United States, and the pomp and circumstance of the nation's oft-played anthems will define the occasion perhaps as much as our newfound thirst for security. Such songs are typically played with pride and fill our hearts with a vision of America through its landscapes, its individualism, its triumphs, its freedoms -- the kinds of things that tend to stir people's rawest emotions. For me, though, where America makes the most sense is in the words of Guthrie, a man who loved his country but wasn't afraid to ask hard questions about it. In 1952, Woody Guthrie recorded This Land Is Your Land at the twilight of his career, when the Huntington's disease that would kill him fifteen years later was already taking a heavy toll on his body. He had spent nearly two decades traveling the country, establishing the kind of resonant legacy that has inspired everyone from Bob Dylan to the youngest of today's singer-songwriters. Like many Americans after the Depression, Guthrie had left the Dust Bowl for the promise of work in the rapidly developing West. Along the way, though, he learned firsthand that a better future was more elusive than he might once have thought, particularly for those who were a generation or two removed from the massive influx of the Gold Rush's opportunists. Soon, his rambling, personal songs became his way of making sense of the world as he knew it. They became his journal of America -- of its working families, its immigrants and migrant farmers, its forgotten and disenfranchised, and its eternally hopeful. And they culminated in the recording of his most enduring song. The first verse of the song is as familiar as any American song ever written: "This land is your land
This Land Is Your Land is one of those uncommon songs that is both proud and critical. It acknowledges America as the kind of place that could both welcome and -- paradoxically -- turn its back on people at the same time. Guthrie was often accused of being unpatriotic, of being sympathetic to "un-American" ideals, of not being dedicated enough to the "American way of life." But in truth, he was an ardent believer in the principles upon which the country was founded -- individual liberties, community spirit, freedom of opportunity, equality, democracy -- the same principles that have long beckoned people from around the world. Indeed, his patriotism was incontrovertible. But he wasn't blind. He could relish the majesty of America's "Gulf stream waters" and "diamond deserts," but he could also take issue with its "no trespassin'" signs and express concerns for the hungry people in "relief office" lines. Given a political climate of the time that still lingers, it's no real surprise that the protests of the final three verses of This Land Is Your Land were often left out of the song and have been all but forgotten over the years. But when he sang in the final verse, "Nobody living can ever stop me / As I go walking / That freedom highway," there's no mistaking what he was living for or how American he considered himself to be.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." Since September 11, we've heard a lot of talk about whom America is "for" and what it supposedly means to be patriotic. In spite of our fears and sometimes in direct affront to our biases, however, this land -- as Woody Guthrie said it best -- still exists for "you and me," regardless of who "you" or "I" happen to be. Have a great Independence Day. :: Wood Turner Seattle, Washington (Thoughts on this GoodLetter? Inspired by what you've read? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.) |
TALK ABOUT IT How do you define patriotism? Can you love your country but question it at the same time? Share your stories and ideas. LEARN ABOUT IT :: The Woody Guthrie Foundation :: Woody Guthrie's American Song (Atlanta) :: Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (July 10-14, 2002 -- Okemah, Oklahoma) :: This Land Is Your Land (lyrics) :: Public Radio International's American Routes :: People for the American Way DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT :: Share the principles of Woody Guthrie with a child in the award-winning children's book, This Land Is Your Land :: Support the Woody Guthrie Foundation And keep listening actively and passionately to music that can make a difference and can help us understand ourselves better. Readers Respond Want to share your thoughts or ideas with other people who care about good things? Send 'em our way.
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