Come on back, Woody
As the off-grid movement battles for recognition of this way of life, it all comes back to land ownership, and the empty building land held by speculators and developers with no thought to the good of society as a whole. As house prices collapse back to where they should have been all along, and the banks look for new ways to take our money, its timely to remember the words of Woody Guthrie’s immortal song This Land Is Your Land
The Dust Bowl may be coming back very soon.
This Land Is Your Land
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
As I was 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’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1 – buy it from Amazon