"This Land is Your Land" in Yiddish (and in English)

17 Mai 2022 , Rédigé par François MUNIER Publié dans #Écouter, voir, #États-Unis

"Dos Land iz Dayn Land" Woody Guthrie's
"This Land is Your Land"
Yiddish Translation by Linda Gritz & Daniel Kahn
with Harry Bochner, Michael Alpert, & Josh Waletzky

Video and music produced, directed and edited by Daniel Kahn
Presented by The Forverts

Performed by (in order of appearance)
Daniel Kahn (voice, guitar, harmonica- USA/Germany)
Sarah Gordon (voice- USA)
Lorin Sklamberg (voice, piano- USA)
Patrick Farrell (accordion- USA/Germany)
Sveta Kundish (voice- Ukraine/Israel/Germany)
Michael Alpert (voice- USA/Scotland)
Linda Gritz (voice- USA)

Thanks & love to: אַ האַרציקן דאַנק Mike Katz, Eleanor Reissa, Binyumen Schaechter, Zalmen Mlotek, Emily Finer, Michael Williams, Ethel Raim, Michael Tuttle, Earthwork folks, Rukhl Schaechter & Jordan Kutzik at the Forverts, The 2020 YNY Lider-Shmideray, Bela Lipa Kundish, Yeva & Leybke Lapsker Kahn, & Nora Guthrie

A note: Written on February 23, 1940 as a response to the popularity of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," Woody Guthrie's radical ballad has often been sanitized and sung as an uncritical patriotic anthem, ignoring a history of stolen land, lives, and labor.

As Yiddish singers, musicians, and translators, drawing on our own heritage, we challenge this interpretation, and stand in solidarity with Indigenous, Black, and immigrant voices calling for power, reparation, and justice in this land.

Transliterated Lyrics:
(Daniel:)
Kh’hob mir gevandert in a land a frayen
Aroys fun midber, vi mi-mitsrayem,
Gezukht a nayem Yerushalayem,
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.

(REFREN:)
Dos land iz dayn land, dos land iz mayn land
Fun Kalifornye biz Elis Ayland,
Fun di groyse oz’res biz di breyte yamen,
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.

(Sarah:)
Ikh gey ariber di berg un teler,
Arumgeringlt fun zise keler.
Di ritshkes murmlen, di feygl zingen:
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.

(Lorin w/ piano:)
Kh’ze a groysn moyer mit a shild vos vornt:
Vil men araynet, shteyt az me tor nit
Nor af yener zayt, shteyt dortn gornit
Ot iz di zayt far mir un dir.

(Sveta & Patty w/accordion:)
Gey ikh mir voglen, di zun fun oybn,
Nor beyze vintn tseblozn shtoybn,
Durkh di tumanen, her ikh gezangen:
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.

(Michael:)
Af nase gasn, in tife shotns,
Ze ikh vi mentshn betn nedoves
Bay aza dales, darf ikh zikh klern
Tsi dos iz a land far mir un dir.

(Linda and all:)
Es ken shoyn keyner undz nit farshtern,
Di fraye vegn undz nit farvern.
Nito keyn tsamen, ven nor tsuzamen.
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.

LYRICS:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
And I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me the golden valley
This land was made for you and me
I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around meT, a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property
But on the back side it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me
When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me