I’ve had a hard time separating this song from the idea of manifest destiny ever since Jack Layton famously performed it on the campaign trail and faced that criticism. I realise that I’m probably missing the point, and so were the people who “translated” it to ‘canadian’.
15 years later I now hear it as the realization that the american dream is a lie. North America was colonized and the colonizers were promised all of its riches and freedom from serfdom. But there are still no trespassing signs, and people are still dependent on religious and state aid, despite the vast abundance.
I think the song ends with him being like “well fuck you I’m going after that freedom anyways” which doesn’t quite match my interpretation of the lyrics before that part, but we see the world differently in the current era and I’m not sure how much Guthrie might have known about colonialism.
I’ve had a hard time separating this song from the idea of manifest destiny ever since Jack Layton famously performed it on the campaign trail and faced that criticism. I realise that I’m probably missing the point, and so were the people who “translated” it to ‘canadian’.
15 years later I now hear it as the realization that the american dream is a lie. North America was colonized and the colonizers were promised all of its riches and freedom from serfdom. But there are still no trespassing signs, and people are still dependent on religious and state aid, despite the vast abundance.
I think the song ends with him being like “well fuck you I’m going after that freedom anyways” which doesn’t quite match my interpretation of the lyrics before that part, but we see the world differently in the current era and I’m not sure how much Guthrie might have known about colonialism.
He also didn’t know about climate change.
It’s hard to listen to him singing about the glorious sight of smoke rising from industrial chimneys