Performed by: Mormon Tabernacle Choir "This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, a Carter Family tune called "When the World's on Fire", in critical response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." When Guthrie was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing God Bless America on the radio in the late 1930s he sarcastically wrote "God Blessed America for Me" before renaming it "This Land Is Your Land." Lyrics: 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 And saw above me that endless skyway, And saw below me the golden valley, I said: [This land was made for you and me.] I roamed and rambled and 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.] Was a high wall there that tried to stop me A sign was painted said: Private Property, But on the back side it didn't say nothing — [This land was made for you and me.] When the sun come shining, then I was strolling In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling; The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting: [This land was made for you and me.] One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple By the Relief Office I saw my people — As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering [This land was made for you and me.]