https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/585577/this-land-your-land-americas-best-known-protest-song

_Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” in a divey hotel room in New York City. He’d just landed in Manhattan after years of rambling across the country and meeting impoverished people affected by the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Throughout his travels in the late '30s, Guthrie was haunted by Kate Smith’s hit recording of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Guthrie found Berlin’s song to be jingoistic and out of touch with the reality facing many of his fellow citizens. So he set about writing a response.

Guthrie originally titled his rejoinder “God Blessed America”—emphasis on the past tense—but eventually changed his tone. Instead of doing a sarcastic parody, he wrote a song that pulls double-duty, celebrating America’s natural splendor while criticizing the nation for falling short of its promise. In the “lost” fourth verse, Guthrie decries the notion of private property, suggesting America is being carved up by the wealthy:_