This Land Is Your Land

From the Dish:

A reader writes:

If you're going to talk about "America the Beautiful", it's probably time to bring up "This Land is Your Land", Woody Guthrie's 1940s folk-ode to the country. It's far superior to "The Star Spangled Banner", in my opinion. But the story behind Woody writing the song is not well known (it was a sarcastic response to Irving Berlin's (still) terrible "God Bless America"), nor have most people ever read the additional/alternate lyrics to the song. Read this 2004 New Yorker piece for a pretty good rundown on Woody, and also the Wikipedia page for the song.

I didn't know that. On a related note, I am extremely tired of Major League Baseball playing "God Bless America" at the seventh inning stretch. That was fine for a few weeks in 2001, and they can do it every game in New York, but why should it be played in St. Louis during the World Series? Baseball is so tied to tradition, but this has no roots in the history of the game. I think maybe the majority of people who enjoy baseball are also the crazy conservatives who would like to see the United States return to the 1920's, coincidentally, when baseball was king (along with horse racing and boxing).