This Land Is Your Land This Land Is Your Land "This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1940, based on an existing melody, a Carter Family tune called "When the World's on Fire", in critical response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." When Guthrie was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing "God Bless America" on the radio in the late 1930s, he sarcastically wrote "God Blessed America for Me" before renaming it "This Land Is Your Land." In 2002, "This Land Is Your Land" was one
God Bless America family, the track's owners. The performance, often not televised, immediately precedes the national anthem. Henderson routinely sang the entire song, including the prologue, and in some years sang the chorus a second time. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Canadian pop star Celine Dion performed the song on the TV special "". Shortly afterwards on October 16, Sony Music Entertainment released a benefit album called "God Bless America", which featured Dion singing the song. The album debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200 and became the first charity album to reach the top since USA for Africa's "We Are