Monday, January 19, 2009

"Seeger's version"

Ben Smith:
Michael Kazin points out that Pete Seeger's and Bruce Springsteen's performance of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," closing out the concert at the Lincoln Memorial, was probably its most political moment, for including the "two 'radical' verses of This Land Is Your Land that almost always get cut when the song is sung in public, or in countless elementary schools across the nation."

The verses didn't come out quite as written, but here they are in the original version:

“As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there
And that sign said – no tress passin’
But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office – I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.”

Howie P.S.: After my father died, my mother remarried and her second husband (Earl Robinson, a native of West Seattle) wrote the music to the song "Joe Hill," the legendary organizer for the IWW. I could feel them all there yesterday.

1 comment:

Chad Shue said...

The Three Chord Progressives do all the verses all the time. The verse about the sign is my favorite.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue