This Land Is Your Land

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Versions of
This Land Is Your Land (1940)
by Woody Guthrie

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"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs, written by Woody Guthrie in 1940. It was originally written in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Guthrie considered that song unrealistic and complacent, and was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio, so he wrote a different song, originally called "God Blessed America for Me". Guthrie varied the lyrics over time, sometimes including more overtly political verses that often do not appear in recordings or publications.

―Excerpted from This Land Is Your Land on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The publication 10 of Woody Guthrie's Songs was submitted as evidence in the court case JibJab v Ludlow to prove this song was in the Public domain.[1]

1897082This Land Is Your Land1940Woody Guthrie

Versions of This Land Is Your Land include:

"This Land" in 10 of Woody Guthrie's Songs, 1945.
"This Land Is Your Land" (unsourced)

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) before 1964, and copyright was not renewed.

For Class A renewal records (books only) published between 1923 and 1963, check the Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database.
For other renewal records of publications between 1922–1950, see the University of Pennsylvania copyright records.
For all records since 1978, search the U.S. Copyright Office records.

Works published in 1945 could have had their copyright renewed in 1972 or 1973, i.e. between January 1st of the 27th year after publication or registration and December 31st of the 28th year. As this work's copyright was not renewed, it entered the public domain on January 1st, 1974.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1967, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 56 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

It is imperative that contributors ascertain that there is no evidence of a copyright renewal before using this license. Failure to do so will result in the deletion of the work as a copyright violation.

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