This Land: Seeger Performs Guthrie's “Lost Verses” at the Inaugural

Abstract

On Sunday 18 January 2009, Pete Seeger led Barack Obama and an audience of 400,000 people in a spirited performance of “This Land is Your Land” at the We Are One concert. Seeger reinserted three verses that have been edited out of most public versions of Woody Guthrie's iconic anthem. Seeger's performance continued a long tradition of the song working on two levels: as a simple patriotic anthem for most listeners and a critical rallying cry for the organized Left. Although hardly a victory celebration, Seeger's performance at the Inaugural is perhaps symbolic of a new political and cultural opening for those who would challenge dominant neoliberal ideology. While that ideology continues to dominate the administration's agenda, perhaps voices critical of privatization, privation, and religious hypocrisy—perspectives represented in Guthrie's lost verses—will at least be allowed onto the national stage.

Notes

^[1] Bringing to an end one of the greatest contradictions between text and practice in American music, it was determined in 2004 (Ludlow vs. JibJab) that the original verses of “This Land is Your Land” are no longer under copyright restrictions. With equal irony, HBO has argued that individuals who videotaped We Are One and presented clips on the Internet were infringing their exclusive contractual right to videotape and rebroadcast the concert. That is according to Ben Sheffner: “HBO is going over Youtube with a fine tooth comb and having all clips of the event pulled under copyright claims. Want to see the special moment where an 89 year old Pete Seeger sang This Land Is Your Land on the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial? Tough luck.” < http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html>

Other bloggers have launched the same claim and criticism against HBO. However, a few non-HBO clips of Seeger's performance at the We Are One concert remain on YouTube.