As I went walking I saw a sign there.
And on the sign it said “(C) — Guthrie estate”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
“Following their successful actions to bring the songs ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘We Shall Overcome’ into the public domain, New York law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz are now taking on a similar action for the Woody Guthrie classic, ‘This Land Is Your Land.'” [IP Flow/Mimesis Law]
Back in 2004, when the successors in interest of Guthrie’s heirs threatened the writers of a politically oriented parody with copyright litigation, Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation wondered what Guthrie himself would have thought of the action, given that he once used a copyright notice that said:
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.
The lyrics of “My Land,” including the “No Trespassing” verse lightly altered above, are here, complete with copyright assertion.
2 Comments
It is well know, and admitted by Guthrie, that he took the melody for This Land fro,m The Carter family’s Little Darling’ Pal of Mine. https://www.google.com/search?q=Carter+family+Little+Darlin%27+Pal+of+Mine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
The Carter Family’s When the World’s On Fire, another version of the Baptist hymn Oh, My Loving Brother, is even closer musically I think. But in any case Guthrie’s words would be an independent basis for a copyright claim, if there is one to be had.