Woody Guthrie in Will Geer's apartment. Guthrie made his first recordings—several hours of conversation and songs recorded by the folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress—as well as an album, "Dust Bowl Ballads," for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey. In February 1940 he wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land", as a response to what he felt was an overplaying of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on the radio. Guthrie thought the lyrics were unrealistic and complacent. He adapted the melody from an old gospel song, "Oh My Loving Brother", which had been adapted by the country
God Bless America (charity album) to "God Bless America", as well as both the overtly patriotic "God Bless the USA" and the far different "Blowin' in the Wind". Two live recordings are used, both performances in New York City. The album debuted at number 1 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 181,000 copies in its first week of release. In doing so, it became the first charity album to reach the top since USA for Africa's "We Are the World" in 1985. Dion's title track single also received enough radio airplay to reach number 14 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The album's release came