Live 19 Apr 1981 version
[Spoken intro:] This is uh... this is an old song that, about uh... about an old dream. This is a song by Woody Guthrie (cheers). And... it's hard to uh... to think what to say about this song because it's sung a whole lot in the States and it's been misinterpreted a whole lot. It uh... was originally written as an answer, as an angry answer to "God Bless America". It was... it was written as a fighting song, and it was written as... I feel, as a question that everybody has to ask themselves about, about the land they live in every day. And...
Well once I rode that ribbon highway
I saw above me an endless sky
I saw below me a golden valley
Oh this land was made for you and me
I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
In the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
It cried this land was made for you and me
Well the sun came shining as I went strolling
Through the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
And the bells were ringing and the fog was lifting
Oh this land was made for you and me
From Harlem County of New York City
To the fields of California, to Liberty City
Just people wondering, and wondering
If this land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Islands
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
Oh this land was made for you and me
The above lyrics are for the live 19 Apr 1981 performance of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND at Palais Des Sports De Saint-Ouen in Paris, France, during The River Tour. The song was played in a solo acoustic guitar and harmonica arrangement. This version is one of eight on this tour that feature Springsteen's own "Liberty City" verse.
This concert was rescheduled from 21 Apr 1981.
List of available versions of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND on this website:
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND [1988 studio version]