Talk:This Land Is Your Land (unsourced)

This text is in the Public Domain because the Copyright was not renewed in 1973. (And also for other reasons -- see below.)

Missing Verse
There is another verse of this song, written by Woody Guthrie at the same time as the other verses, which is never sung or reproduced in text as in it Woody's socialist/communist sympathies are showing. It refers to a no trespassing or keep out sign. I don't know the wording of the verse or which verse it is (I think 2nd though), but it should be added if anyone has a wording. AllanHainey 10:50, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Aforementioned missing verse
The missing words:

"I was walking

and saw a sign there

on one side, it said no tresspassing

but on the other side

It didn't say nothing

Tis sign was made for you and me" Hat Jones, 3:08AM, 29 March 2006


 * Great, do you know which verse it is so we know where to add it to the existing text. AllanHainey 10:53, 29 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Excerpt from the Wikipedia-article on Woody Guthrie:
 * "Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verses:


 * In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
 * By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
 * As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
 * Is this land made for you and me?


 * As I went walking, I saw a sign there,
 * And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing." [In another version, the sign reads "Private Property"]
 * But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!
 * That side was made for you and me.


 * These verses were often omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself."
 * So I guess there are at least two extra verses to this song and some smaller variations between different perfomances. 83.248.249.213 22:07, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Copyright
"This work may still be copyrighted in countries and areas not applying the rule of the shorter term." This generic boilerplate on the article footer may be misleading. Guthrie is reported to have explicitly given it away to all, in writing. 69.87.199.186 00:07, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

The aftermath of the JibJab copyright fiasco was the discovery that the tune was never under copyright as that had been taken from the Carter Family1 and the lyrics copyright from 1945 had never been renwed 2. In addition Guthrie at on time appended a copyright notice to the song that read: "This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do." Brother William 2nd May 2006 23:03(UTC)


 * Hello anonymous. Do you have any reliable sources backing this? That would let us change the license to, which is valid worldwide. — {admin} Pathoschild 01:08:48, 05 March 2007 (UTC)


 * The song is definitely in the public domain, but I don't see that copyright notice anywhere on the original pamphlet. (though, to be fair, the lyrics differ from what we have here, but the pamphlet is from 1945, and the lyrics are, apparently, from the 1944 version) EVula // talk // 19:51, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Woody Guthrie put the world's first CC licence on a booklet of lyrics that was given to his radio fans in the 1930s, but I don't know if they've appeared since or if only that booklet was covered by that licence. Sheogorath 14 February 2012 12:14