This Land is Your Land

Spent the afternoon taking pics and watching the beginning of the end of our national 8 year long nightmare (That would be the "We are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial today) and I have to say that Pete Seeger made my day.

The moment he began leading the crowd in the "subversive" lyrics that Woody Guthrie penned all those years ago about true patriotism and economic justice I began to bawl.

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.

89 years young.

When he was blacklisted and pulled before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) Seeger was asked if he sang for Commies. His response?

Mr. SEEGER: I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody. That is the only answer I can give along that line.

and

Mr. SEEGER: I decline to discuss, under compulsion, where I have sung, and who has sung my songs, and who else has sung with me, and the people I have known. I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American. I will tell you about my songs, but I am not interested in telling you who wrote them, and I will tell you about my songs, and I am not interested in who listened to them. . . .

You can read more HERE.
Pete Seeger is an American patriot.

Let Freedom Ring!