This Land Is Your Land

Last night I heard Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, and John McCutcheon performing This Land is Your Land, along with a bunch of other people I'd never heard of before. It was quite an experience. They sang all the verses, especially the socialist ones; Pete Seeger sang the one about "but on the other side it didn't say nothing." Anyway, all of this got me thinking about the idea that this song ought to become our national anthem. I'd certainly prefer it to the current occupant of that position, but it strikes me that it's really more a substitute for God Bless America. Obviously the socialist verses are never going to become anything official, but the first verse and chorus are rather comparable to God Bless America:

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway I saw below me that golden valley
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.