This Land Is Your Land

This Land Is Your Land est l'une des plus célèbres chansons folkloriques des États-Unis. Les paroles ont été écrites par Woody Guthrie en 1940 sur une musique existante, et ce en réponse à God Bless America d'Irving Berlin qu'il considérait comme peu réaliste et suffisante. Lassé d'entendre Kate Smith chanter cette chanson, il a écrit sous forme de réponse, God Blessed America for Me[1], dont il changea les paroles au cours des interprétations, ajoutant parfois des vers plus politiques.

W. Guthrie a tiré la mélodie de This Land Is Your Land essentiellement de When the World's on Fire, un chant baptiste enregistré par la Carter Family dix ans auparavant. Cependant, certaines sources indiquent qu'une chanson originale de la Carter Family, Little Darlin' Pal of Mine, est la source de la mélodie de This Land[2].

Paroles originales (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 I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While All around me a voice was sounding
Saying this land was made for you and me.
The sun came shining, and 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.
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.

Reprise

En 2002, Sharon Jones et les Dap-Kings ont repris cette chanson. Les troisième et quatrième couplets sont inspirés de ceux chantés par Woody Guthrie dans le plus ancien enregistrement connu, datant de [3]. Les troisième et quatrième couplets de la reprise sont :

As I was walking, now, they tried to stop me[4]
They put up a sign that said, oh, it said: Private Property
Well, on the back side, you know it said nothing
So, it must be that side was made for you and me
One bright sunny morning, well, in the shadow of a steeple
Down by the Welfare office, I saw my people
You know, now, they stood hungry, I stood wondering
I was wondering if this land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From Riverside, California, oh, to Staten Island
Well, oh, down to Modesto, Georgia, oh, don't forget to say Philadelphia, oh
We moving down to Mississippi, oh, Houston, Texas, ah LA
Yeah, you know, ah, this land is your land, this land is my land
This land is your land
You've got to believe, this my land
Ooh, this land was made for you and me

Notes et références
  1. Woody Guthrie: this man is your myth, this man is my myth
  2. (en) Ed Cray, Ramblin Man : The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, , poche (ISBN 978-0-393-32736-6), p. 165
  3. This land is your land
  4. « Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings:This Land Is Your Land » (consulté le )

Voir aussi

Liens externes

Bibliographie
  • Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. W. W. Norton & Company, 165. (ISBN 0393327361).
  • Portail de la musique • section Chanson
  • Portail des États-Unis
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