This Land is Your Land

"This Land is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs, written by Woody Guthrie in 1940. It was originally penned in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Guthrie considered that song unrealistic and complacent, and was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio. Guthrie varied the lyrics over time, sometimes including more overtly political verses that often do not appear in recordings or publications.

Parodies

As with many popular songs, this one has not escaped the notice of lampooners. Unlike the aforementioned JibJab parody, many of these parodies are written entirely anonymously and propagated via word-of-mouth. This well-known elementary-school version could have been sung by the person on the other side of the "Private Property" sign referenced by Woody Guthrie:

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:This land is my land, it isn't your land

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:I got a shotgun, and you ain't got one

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:If you don't get off, I'll blow your head off

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:This land was made for only me

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Another version is

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:This land is my land, this land ain't your land

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:I got a shotgun, and you ain't got one

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:I'll blow your head off, if you don't get off

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:This land is private property

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Many sites reference variations on the above, such as: http://www.techimo.com/forum/t144551.html http://www.wessalmon.com/000198.html

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This anti-imperialist versionhttp://www.patriotactband.com/ThisLand.html is a recent variant:

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:This land is my land, and only my land

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:And I just take land if I can?t buy land

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:And if I spy land, well, then it?s my land.

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:This land was made for only me.

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It is also parodied in an episode of The Simpsons with the words changed to "This log is my log, this log is your log" in reference to a runaway giant redwood tree.

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The Tim Robbins film Bob Roberts includes a song in which the title character sings "This land is my land/ This land is my land"

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