Well Hi There - Brothers-in-Law fans (esp Clinton Hammond in Windsor, Ont - I'm Alec...) And bless you Supercanadian for entering the CORRECT lyrics to my 1966 song, recorded for Exposé '67. The title is actually THIS LAND IS WHOSE LAND? for obvious reasons. What happened is: Guthrie wrote his song in the '30's using the refrain from a Hymn - My Redeemer by James McGranahan, (1880's and so Public Domain) as the melody for his song. IT IS A BLOODY GOOD SONG for Americans, eh? But some Canadian or other changed all the US place-names and substituted Canadian ones and called it This L is Y L - Canadian Version. I viewed this as being like General Motors (Canada) Limited. It was recorded by Toronto group The Travellers, all nice guys, we did a gig with them once to support Ceasar Chavez in Tranna; but nevertheless, not a REAL Canuck song, I thought.
So I wrote my version, we recorded it as the lead song on Exposé '67 and it went out to the stores. Next thing, mighty Chapell Music of New York took Arc Records to court in Ottawa and the Judge ordered it pulled. 3000 got out, if you have one, hang on... We pointed out Guthrie's use of the hymn, no good. Possibly it was the words which the Judge thought smelled of plagiarism, maybe Chappell had a higher-priced lawyer; if so why didn't Chappell have a go over The Travellers version? Probably because my version poked fun at their Mighty Land, eh?
It was one of the best songs I ever wrote - sing the damn thing and to hell with the establishment,won't you?
Sad part of this, is that while this was going on Woody Guthrie was lying terminally ill - a dreadful thing, from which he passed away. I have always thought that if I could have talked with him, none of it would have happened.
But that's the way the ball bounced. Thanks for your support and check out Alec Somerville(me) on YouTube - you'll find it and other stuff there pout on by someone I don't know...
And Put All Your Faith in The Pill...