This Land

“This Land” (or “This Land Is Your Land”) by American folk singer, Woody Guthrie was written in critical response to Irving Berlin’s ever-popular ‘God Bless America’ that Guthrie felt ignored the social problems of the Great Depression. And yet This Land’s original purpose was to protest against the social inequality of erasing Indigenous people’s historical claim to the land. The original lyrics reads: “This land is made for you and me.” (rather than ‘was’) which puts the song in the present tense and makes it more apt to a society ever-changing like today. This arrangement is scored for 4-part SATB (with divisi) to be performed a cappella. It includes 6 verses (the 7th being the chorus itself) as found from various early original sources. Performance time: 5:40+-