An American Songbag

Woody Gurthrie: “This Land Is Your Land”1940sBob Dylen: “Blowing in the Wind,” 1962Bruce Springsteen: “Born in the USA” 1984Leonard Cohen: “Democracy" 1992

Woody Gurthrie,

This Land Is Your Land

This land is your land, This land is my landFrom California to the New York island;

From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me.

The four corners of USA

Nature as an American identity

As I was 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've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;

And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling, And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,

As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting: This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." But on the other side it didn't say nothing,

That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, By the relief office I seen my people;

As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway;

Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me.

© Copyright 1956 (renewed), 1958 (renewed), 1970 and 1972

History in Song

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/history.html#top

Bob Dylan, “Blowing in the Wind”1962

Blowing in the WindHow many roads must a man walk down,

before they call him a man How many seas must a white dove sail,

before she sleeps in the sand How many times must the cannonballs fly,

before they are forever banned * The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

The answer is blowing in the wind

Nagasaki, 1945

THE VIET-NAM WAR My Lai, March 16, 1968Photograph by Ronald L. Haeberle.

How many years must a mountain exist, before it is washed to the sea

How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free

How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see

* The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

The answer is blowing in the wind

1. A mountain washed to the sea: Environmental devastation or a symbol of USA

2. Race relation and the civil rights movement

How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky

How many years must one man have, before he can hear people cry

How many deaths will it take till he knows, that too many people have died

* The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

The answer is blowing in the wind

Bruce Springsteen: “Born in the USA” 1984

Born down in a dead man’s townThe first kick I took was when I hit the groundYou end up like a dog that’s been beat too muchTill you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jamSo they put a rifle in my handSent me off to a foreign landTo go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A.I was born in the U.S.A.I was born in the U.S.A.I was born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A.

Come back home to the refineryHiring man said son if it was up to meWent down to see my v.a. manHe said “Son, don’t you understand now”

I had a brother at Khe Sahn 溪山Fighting off the Viet Cong 越共They’re still there, he’s all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon 西貢I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary 監獄、感化院Out by the gas fires of the refinery 精煉廠、煉油廠I’m ten years burning down the roadNowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A., I’m a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A., I’m a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.

Leonard Cohen “Democracy”

DEMOCRACY

It's coming through a hole in the air, from those nights in Tiananmen Square. It's coming from the feel that this ain't exactly real, or it's real, but it ain't exactly there. From the wars against disorder, from the sirens night and day, from the fires of the homeless, from the ashes of the gay: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

We Remember - Tiananmen Square, Beijing, June 4, 1989

It's coming through a crack in the wall; on a visionary flood of alcohol; from the staggering account of the Sermon on the Mount which I don't pretend to understand at all. It's coming from the silence on the dock of the bay, from the brave, the bold, the battered heart of Chevrolet: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

1. Sermon on the Mount

2. the battered heart of Chevrolet

It's coming from the sorrow in the street, the holy places where the races meet; from the homicidal bitchin' that goes down in every kitchen to determine who will serve and who will eat. From the wells of disappointment where the women kneel to pray for the grace of God in the desert here and the desert far away: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on O mighty Ship of State! To the Shores of Need Past the Reefs of Greed Through the Squalls of Hate Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first, the cradle of the best and of the worst. It's here they got the range and the machinery for change and it's here they got the spiritual thirst. It's here the family's broken and it's here the lonely say that the heart has got to open in a fundamental way: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean I love the country but I can't stand the scene. And I'm neither left or right I'm just staying home tonight, getting lost in that hopeless little screen. But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags that Time cannot decay, I'm junk but I'm still holding up this little wild bouquet: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

It's coming from the women and the men. O baby, we'll be making love again. We'll be going down so deep the river's going to weep, and the mountain's going to shout Amen! It's coming like the tidal flood beneath the lunar sway, imperial, mysterious, in amorous array: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. Sail on, sail on ...