Live 28 Dec 1980 version
[Spoken intro:] One two. [tests guitar and harmonica] Well... One, two three, thank you. This is uh... there's a book out right now, it's called "Woody Guthrie: A Life". And uh... it's by a fella named Joe Klein. And I didn't, I didn't know much about Woody Guthrie till I, till I read this book. I'd, I'd heard a whole lot about his music and uh... it's just a beautiful book and, and, and this is a song that uh... was originally wrote, was originally wrote as an answer, as an angry answer to "God Bless America". And uh... since then... it's been used for a lot of things. But uh... if you get a chance, you ought to pick up this book and read it because it just tells you a lot about, about the country you're living in.
Well I went riding that ribbon highway
I saw above me the endless skyway
I saw below me the golden valley
Well this land was made for you and me
I roamed and rambled, followed my footsteps
Through the sparkling sands of the diamond desert
And all around me a voice was ringing
That this land was made for you and me
Well this land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
Well this land was made for you and me
Well the sun came shining and a voice lifting
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
And a voice was ringing as the fog was lifting
It cried that this land was made for you and me
Well this land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
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 28 Dec 1980 performance of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, during The River Tour. The song was played in a full-band arrangement.
The Live/1975-85 box set liner notes indicate that the recording of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND is taken from this 28 Dec 1980 show in Uniondale, NY, but that's incorrect. It's actually taken from the following night's show in Uniondale, NY (see the Live 29 Dec 1980 version).
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band rounded up the 1980 leg of The River Tour with three concerts at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, on 28, 29, and 31 Dec 1980. The three shows were recorded live with the Record Plant Remote Truck by Toby Scott, assisted by David Bianco and Jim Scott, and later became one of the main sources for the Live/1975-85 box set which includes six recordings from these shows. Four additional recordings were released as B-sides and on compilation albums.
List of available versions of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND on this website:
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND [1988 studio version]