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Pete Seeger This Land Is Your Land Analysis

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“This Land is your Land” is not a traditional protest song as it never directly takes a stand against a specific cause, but it does promote an ideology that ran contrary to the popular notions of the time. Guthrie wanted to take a stand against an ultra-patriotic ideology Guthrie was a big part of the Worker’s Rights Movement and shared some radical left wing ideologies with the other members of that movement. Although he was a very vocal supporter of the worker’s rights movement, he was always very careful to not publicly state his support for communism and other radical left-wing idealism. He censored many of his radical lyrics in many of his songs including “This Land is your Land.” The song originally had lyrics that stood against the concept …show more content…

One of the most important people Guthrie reached with his work was someone else who struggled with being blacklisted, Pete Seeger. Seeger admired Guthrie’s work and they were good friends who frequently saw each other at Communist Party events and music gatherings. Seeger sang “This Land is Your Land” more than anybody else. Many people mistakenly thought he wrote the song since he played it so much. Seeger put “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his banjo just like Guthrie had written on his guitar. They had a relationship of respect and admiration. Seeger struggled a great deal with the second Red Scare and his blacklisting. He was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He was pressed on his connections with Communist activities. The Committee tried to paint Seeger and the communist party as dangerous to the American way. His extreme ideology made him a good target for the House Un-American Activities Committee to make an example of. Seeger was blacklisted and could not get work for years. One thing that was a constant over the years was that Seeger was playing “This Land is your Land” throughout this time. This is when it became his signature song that people associated with him. Seeger started to get work again in the 1960s and then began a river cleaning movement that made him popular once again. Seeger kept the legacy of Guthrie and “This Land is your Land.” Seeger’s

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