Story Behind The Song

I wanted to put this into a June 10, 2007 concert at The Smithsonian American Art Museum, but some thought it was too controversial and so it didn't get performed.

Lyrics

You could have walked upon this land a hundred and fifty years ago, or more,
Much more....
Another hundred years before that,
George Washington was just s surveyor for some fat-cat named Lord Fairfax,
A friend of the King who had ev'rything, even the gout....
He said, "I know what life's all about:
To the victor go the spoils," he'd say -
But it wasn't spoiled when you took it away from the Indians,
And said, "These are all my dominions!
You think I'm wrong? Why, I've even got a song:

This land is my land, this land is my land,
This land is my land, and this land is my land! - it's all mine!"

Those were the original lyrics, until Woody Guthrie got ahold of it
And sugared it up a bit -

Of course, the native Americans, the Indians, they didn't like the song much -
They said, "You know, it's crazy, it's nuts, this idea that the land, which has been here before people, before buffalo, before anything, and which will go on being here, long, long, long after we're all gone away - to even think that land could be owned by someone who's only on this earth for a split second, it's crazy, it's insane - and put that gun down, you saw the sign: no guns in the casino! Why, owning land - it's as crazy as thinking that someone could own another person!!

You could have walked upon this land a hundred and fifty years ago....
(under certain restrictions, of course...)