• ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I can see how, but it was a contemporaneous response to Kate Smith's "God Bless America", refuting the idea of manifest destiny - there's a verse about private property that is rarely included in recordings that makes it a lot more clear.

    • Smeagolicious [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The original Woody Guthrie version is a bit better, the one with the verses that are usually removed because they’re too critical of that manifest destiny myth. Pete Seeger was known for performing this one too

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, they took the private property line out of the version they taught kids in schools.