"This Land is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie

            Woody Wilson Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma on July 14, 1912. He was son of a country, successful politician and businessman parents. Some reports say that Woody was a precocious and observant kid. His life was very painful, with several tragic losses and collapses in the family. Lost his older sister, his mother and lived severe financial problems. In his youth, he left his home just with some clothes a guitar and harmonica to travel the US by train.

            On one of his travels, he stopped in California in 1937, where he began his career in traditional folk music, played for several radios like West Coast. In the same moment, the world was experiencing one of the most tragic and profound economic crisis, The Great Depression (1929-39), where more than 14 million Americans were unemployed and the country's banking system was going to bankrupt. Shortly after the end of the 29’s crisis, began the Second World War, which boosted the country's economy but caused several social problems in a country living in fear.

            Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land” in 1940 and this song showed the enormous love he felt for his country. The lyric of the song represent the populist sentiment that the American nation was feeling at that time. This music was the most famous of his discography (more than 1,000 written music). But when he was 42 years old, the Huntington’s disease affected him, the same disease that killed his mother. His nervous system was injured, and he lost the ability to sing and play the guitar. In 1967 Guthrie died, but he can saw his music inspire a new generation and “This Land is Your Land” became a music reference to the fight about Civil Rights movements.