Live 09 Aug 1985 version
[Spoken intro:] Thank you, thanks. I'd like, I'd like to just take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to the show here tonight. Thank you very much. I know a lot of you guys waited in line a long time for tickets and things. And I want you to know we appreciate it. Now the... the two visits that we've made here... on our tour have been really great for us this year. And... oh. I remember when I was a kid and uh... I always remember citing that, you know, Pledge of Allegiance every morning before class, and you'd get up and you'd go ...(mumbling)... and you'd mumble through it and stuff, not thinking that much about what it was about or ever thinking that much about what your flag was about. But I remember when, even when I was little, that the one thing that, that I always felt that it meant was when I looked up at the flag, I always felt that it, it meant fairness, and that this was a place where the fair thing was supposed to happen. I guess that's pretty naive (chuckles) these days, but uh... it's still a good idea. And I'd like to do this song for you, this is a song by Woody Guthrie. It's about the greatest song, I think, that's ever been written about America. It gets to the heart of the promise of what our country was supposed to be about. And as we sit here tonight, that promise is eroding for many of our fellow Americans. And uh... I guess that's all, that's all our responsibility. And you gotta watch out because with countries, just like with people, it's easy to let the best of yourself slip away. Anyway, I'd like to do this for youse wishing you all the longest life with the best of everything.
Once I rode that ribbon highway
I saw above me the endless sky
I saw below me a golden valley
Oh this land was made for you and me
I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
Through the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
It said 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
And I seen this land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forests to the Gulf Stream waters
Yeah this land was made for you and me
The above lyrics are for the live 09 Aug 1985 performance of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL, during the Born In The U.S.A. Tour. The song was played in a solo acoustic guitar and harmonica arrangement.
List of available versions of THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND on this website:
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND [1988 studio version]