This Land Is Your Land

This Land Is Your Land est l'une des plus célèbres chansons folkloriques des États-Unis. Les paroles ont été écrites par Woody Guthrie en 1940 sur une musique existante, et ce en réponse à God Bless America d'Irving Berlin qu'il considérait comme peu réaliste et suffisante. Lassé d'entendre Kate Smith chanter cette chanson, il a écrit sous forme de réponse, God Blessed America for Me, dont il changea les paroles au cours des interprétations, ajoutant parfois des vers plus politiques.

This Land is Your Land de Woody Guthrie interprétée par Makemi.

W. Guthrie a tiré la mélodie de This Land Is Your Land essentiellement de When the World's on Fire, un chant baptiste enregistré par la Carter Family dix ans auparavant. Cependant, certaines sources indiquent qu'une chanson originale de la Carter Family, Little Darlin' Pal of Mine, est la source de la mélodie de This Land.

En 1995, This Land Is Your Land est entrée dans la liste des « 500 chansons qui ont façonné le rock and roll » (500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll) du Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Paroles originales (1944)

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.

As I went 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 roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

While All around me a voice was sounding

Saying this land was made for you and me.

The sun came shining, and I was strolling

And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling

A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,

This land was made for you and me.

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.

Reprise

En 2002, Sharon Jones et les Dap-Kings ont repris cette chanson. Les troisième et quatrième couplets sont inspirés de ceux chantés par Woody Guthrie dans le plus ancien enregistrement connu, datant de mars 1944. Les troisième et quatrième couplets de la reprise sont :

As I was walking, now, they tried to stop me

They put up a sign that said, oh, it said: Private Property

Well, on the back side, you know it said nothing

So, it must be that side was made for you and me

One bright sunny morning, well, in the shadow of a steeple

Down by the Welfare office, I saw my people

You know, now, they stood hungry, I stood wondering

I was wondering if this land was made for you and me

This land is your land, this land is my land

From Riverside, California, oh, to Staten Island

Well, oh, down to Modesto, Georgia, oh, don't forget to say Philadelphia, oh

We moving down to Mississippi, oh, Houston, Texas, ah LA

Yeah, you know, ah, this land is your land, this land is my land

This land is your land

You've got to believe, this my land

Ooh, this land was made for you and me

Voir aussi

Liens externes

• Woody Guthrie au Museum of Musical Instruments
• Version 1972
• Paroles déposées en 1956

Bibliographie

• Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. W. W. Norton & Company, 165. (ISBN 0393327361).