This is an environmental protest song.
I'd love to take the lyrics in this project and record a youtube video with world music contributions from artists from all around the world.
I'm sowing the seeds of the project on github specifically so that I can (easily?) collaborate with others to bring this to fruition.
Read below for a little bit more about the project, as well as how to contribute.
In March 2018, I drove my eight year old daughter from Austin to Big Bend National Park in West Texas in our 1988 VW Vanagon/Westfalia.
On the way back, This Land Is Your Land played my spotify as we drove through the the desert and my eyes welled up with tears.
I grew up outside of the United States, so it's a bit of a curiosity how moved I was by the evocative imagery in the song.
And yet, each time I heard the lyrics, it occurred to me that I didn't like the chorus at all.
I don't believe that this land was made for any one of us - we are just visitors on this planet like any of the other animals here. Hence:
This land ain't made for you and me.
And while this song was written as an American song, I think it is a beautiful song for our entire planet. And so in changing the locations from purely American ones to global locations, I think it can be a song about the natural beauty all over our world.
I'm starting with the lyrics I found on wikipedia including the various radical verses because I think they're an important commentary in today's world.
I'm then checking in two modifications -
- change the 'was made for you and me' to 'ain't made' in the chorus,
- put in some ideas for non-US locations.
But I imagine the song having different world music as well as global locations.
So if you know how to make a suggestion and submit a pull request, do that. If not, here're some instructions. If that's too complicated, just message me with your suggestions.