For You and Me or Private Property?: Evaluating the Copyright Claim in "This Land is Your Land"
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Authors
Jason Lee Guthrie
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Journal Article, Public or Trade Journal
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Abstract
While I am not able to say definitively whether or not the copyright claim in “This Land” is valid, I do believe the case for its validity is stronger than many previous commentators have suggested. It does not take a professional musicologist to note several differences in the sheet music from 1945 and 1956. They are in different keys and different time signatures. The melodies notated are both recognizable as “This Land,” but they have differences that even an untrained ear can easily distinguish. There are differences in the lyrics as well. For example, the 1945 manuscript has “Canadian Mountain” in place of the more familiar “Redwood Forest” in the first verse, and that difference is just one of many. Even the title on the 1945 manuscript is simply “This Land” rather than the full “This Land Is Your Land.” These discrepancies suggest a strong case that the manuscript accompanying the 1956 registration can reasonably be considered an updated arrangement or version deserving of its own unique copyright. If a judge were to rule the 1956 registration valid, then the current copyright claim would stand as legitimate.