THIS LAND THAT I LOVE;
Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie and the Story of Two American Anthems
By John Shaw
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published November 5th 2013 by PublicAffairs
For my first review I’m introducing a book actually penned by my cousin, John Shaw which is achieving great critical acclaim. It’s also the most recent book I’ve read!
For my first review I’m introducing a book actually penned by my cousin, John Shaw which is achieving great critical acclaim. It’s also the most recent book I’ve read!
John now lives in Seattle and grew
up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He graduated
from the University of Michigan and has been a livelong devotee of music, been
an amateur musician and has even written original scores and lyrics.
In high
school he was part of a rock band that performed around the region. For one of his gigs I took them to the party
in our funeral limousine, the band made a grand entrance and wowed the crowd. His love of music is apparent throughout this
book and the work itself is a true labor of love.
First off,
I’ll admit I’m bias on this one, but the work is exceptional. John worked hard, did an enormous amount
research, including many trips to the Library of Congress and doing personal
interviews with other authors and researchers.
The book was released late in 2013, just in time for Christmas. He literally hit the jackpot when Public
Affairs Publishers took on his work and it was published nationwide as a true
work of American History. Since, it hit
the shelves, he’s been reviewed by the New York Times and many other major
media reviewers and has been celebrated in music and literary circles. As a history junkie, I couldn’t put it
down.
***
THIS LAND THAT I LOVE, tells the
story behind two of America’s most beloved musical anthems; Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” He
also delves deep into both Berlin’s (born Israel Beilien) and Guthrie’s
biographies and features biographies of other influential songwriters of the
era who influenced both men.
Berlin composed God Bless America as a tribute to the
freedom and opportunities America gave him.
Berlin and his family fled Russia as the Pogroms were driving Jews out
of Europe in the late 19th Century.
Initially homeless as a child and young man, Berlin found opportunity and
success in the United States and went on to a legendary musical career, penning
many of the greatest ballads of the 20th Century.
As Kate Smith sang his God Bless America, it was an instant hit
and was played constantly over the radio waves.
American’s couldn’t get enough of it.
It drove Woody Guthrie nuts.
Guthrie was down on his luck and
grew up in the dust bowl days of Oklahoma.
He was struggling to make it as a musician just didn’t identify with the
America Berlin was celebrating. Guthrie
composed This Land is Your Land as a
rebuttal to Berlin’s view of America. It
characterized the rambling spirit of vagabond in the wide, open spaces of the
Midwest.
John goes into great detail
analyzing the lyrics and explaining the meaning behind all the stanzas we know
and love in both songs. It’s a real
eye-opener. He reveals the deep meanings
of each line based on the opposite experiences of both men. They both came from the same humble
beginnings and had a profoundly different American experience.
The book also discusses and
interprets our great American music heritage and were many of our most beloved
tunes came from and the circumstances that created them. It was fascinating to learn that Katherine
Lee Bates, who penned America the
Beautiful, was inspired to write the poem, which later became a ballad,
based on her observations in a train trip across the young nation heading to a
job at Colorado College. I was
fascinated to learn that the lyrics from that song, “Thine Alabaster Cities Gleem” actually is a reference to her visit
to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and is a reference to the “White City” of
that Great Columbian Exposition at end of the 19th century.
You probably have forgotten that
Martin Luther King Jr., cited lines from My
Country Tis of Thee in his 1963 “I Have a Dream Speech” on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial. The book is full of
“gee-whiz” moments like this you probably thought you knew, but really didn’t.
It is also a rich study of musical
genres. From ragtime to folk, from patriotic
to gospel, and from country to rock; he explains nearly every era of American
music and how it came to be.
Toward the end he looks at some
more current tunes such as Lee Greenwood’s God
Bless the USA and how it was inspired by Berlin and Guthrie. He also talks about how music from Roger’s
and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, and other
classic musical’s, was influenced by both
men. Most of the music from that show was
based on people’s experiences in Westward expansion. For example, “The Farmer and the Cowman” highlights the struggle between how ranchers
and farmers got along while competing for land.
He points out that much of our musical heritage is directly based on
shared cultural experiences. Music is a
reflection of who we are and this academic work goes directly to the heart of
what it means to be American.
Without spoiling too many secrets,
it’s a great read for anyone who appreciates music and American history. It’s amazing how our collective history
parallels our music. He does a
superlative job of bringing it all together and making us feel great about our
nation. This book should be included in
any academic history curriculum.
If you need a “feel good” book
about America, this is one you absolutely need to read.
