The Aimee Mann contest is over and the winner’s accent reminded me of Woody Guthrie. So here he is, with our real – alternative – national anthem.
This Land Is Your Land (1940; 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 rambled and followed my footsteps
to the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding (singing):
This land was made for you and me.
The sun was shining as 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.
Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking my freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land is made for you and me.
Picture: Woody Guthrie with a label on his guitar that says “This machine kills fascists.”
There is no difference betwen a freeway and a highway, except “freeway” is sometimes used for roads that don’t charge tolls.
The “dust clouds rolling” remember the Dust Bowl dirt storms of the thirties caused by drought coupled with extensive farming.
learning english with songs 🙂 englischlernen mit liedern
