I seem to be finding a ton of different lyrics including versuses not being sang, sang in different orders and even a line switched up A voice was chanting as the fog was lifting...I know I've seen arlo do it plenty of times and usually different. Can anyone direct me to the original lyrics? Also, guitar chords woudl be great!

Thanks!

The lyrics are posted on www.WoodyGuthrie.org

Check the right-hand side of the front page for a link to lyrics. (The format didn't show the whole page on my computer, so you may have to scroll over.)

Thank you. I had just saw the lyric part on this site also. Looks like the one on guitar tabs frequently turned around is A voice was chanting as the fog was lifting


Thanks!

How many verses you got so far?

The "ton of different lyrics" are original. adg

I'm glad this subject was brought up, when I was in music class in fourth grade my class sang "This Land..." I remember singing word that was different in the chorus:
This Land Is Your Land
This Land Is My Land
From California to the Bedloe Island

Bedloe instead of New York
Arlo was that the original lyrics Bedloe Island that was written before New York Island was the final lyrics?

That's interesting about Bedloe's Island, and I hope ADG weighs in on whether that was ever in the "original, official" lyrics before it was changed.

I suppose it's possible, because Bedloe's Island is the old name for the island on which the Statue of Liberty stands. Was officially changed to Liberty Island in 1956.


mikey

Thanks for the info Ar, hon. It will be interesting to see what you say about the Bedloe lyric...

New York was in all the original versions I ever saw

I wonder who in heaping dog feathers snuck in Bedloe in a fourth grade music book? New York Island was invented way way way when immigrants from England came to New York back in the Flintstone's ages. I don't remember learning about Bedloe's Island in History class

Look at Dylan's stuff. I think he sings 'em differently every time he performs. Either that or he can't remember the words! Then people change words, intentionally or otherwise when they record other people's tunes. Joan Baez added the word "the" to a line in The Band song "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down" and, "Poof!", changed Robert E. Lee from a Confederate general into a paddle wheeler steam boat! T'is Witchcraft, I tell ya! Witchcraft!

It's the folk process!


mikey

A fun (for me, anyway) aside on this topic.

From 2001-2008 I was the Cub Scouting editor at the national office of Boy Scouts. The Cub Scout Songbook came up for revision, and when researching copyrights, I saw that they had some verses of "This Land" in it, with no attribution other than "by Woody Guthrie." I checked and sure enough, we weren't paying royalties. So I got the legal department to get that all set up, and in the process was sent the official, copyrighted verses. So I just stuck 'em all in there and didn't say anything to anyone about it. It took them a few years to realize that maybe they didn't want them all there (I think a call came pouring in), but for those years, all the little kiddies were seeing ALL the verses, and I'm sure a fair number of those books are still floating around. I sent a copy to the GC, and I still have two or three.

I was with BSA for 29 years. That's the change I made that I remember most fondly. (There were many and I was in trouble from time to time .)

So, you were like that guy standing in a field......pointin' and saying, "The lyrics went that-a-way.......>!!! Another unsung hero

As no one actually posted the (so-called) original lyrics here in response to the original question, I figure as don't nobody rightly know the answer...

As I went climbing
up on Blanca mountain
chewing on some herbals
in spite they weren't quite legal
When I arrived at
Flow'r Pow'r encampment
I saw there
this land was made fer you an' me!

This land is yore land
this land is my land
From down in Alamosa
up to the peak above me
And I can grow my herbals
with people here who love me
This national park land
belongs to you and me!

Bein' that it's the national "folk" anthem of America, I reckon as regular ever'day folk, if'n you make up yore own verse an' stick it in between some other verses slightly better known, in a way, that makes it yore own "personal" anthem too!