“This Land is Your Land” in Yiddish
“Dos Land iz Dayn Land” Woody Guthrie’s
“This Land is Your Land”
Yiddish Translation by Linda Gritz & Daniel Kahn with Harry Bochner, Michael Alpert, & Josh Waletzky
Video and music produced, directed and edited by Daniel Kahn
Presented by The Forverts
Performed by (in order of appearance)
Daniel Kahn (voice, guitar, harmonica- USA/Germany)
Sarah Gordon (voice- USA)
Lorin Sklamberg (voice, piano- USA)
Patrick Farrell (accordion- USA/Germany)
Sveta Kundish (voice- Ukraine/Israel/Germany)
Michael Alpert (voice- USA/Scotland)
Linda Gritz (voice- USA)
Thanks & love to: אַ האַרציקן דאַנק Mike Katz, Eleanor Reissa, Binyumen Schaechter, Zalmen Mlotek, Emily Finer, Michael Williams, Ethel Raim, Michael Tuttle, Earthwork folks, Rukhl Schaechter & Jordan Kutzik at the Forverts, The 2020 YNY Lider-Shmideray, Bela Lipa Kundish, Yeva & Leybke Lapsker Kahn, & Nora Guthrie
This Land is Your Land © Copyright 1956 (renewed), 1958 (renewed), 1970 and 1972 by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. & TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)
A note: Written on February 23, 1940 as a response to the popularity of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” Woody Guthrie’s radical ballad has often been sanitized and sung as an uncritical patriotic anthem, ignoring a history of stolen land, lives, and labor.
As Yiddish singers, musicians, and translators, drawing on our own heritage, we challenge this interpretation, and stand in solidarity with Indigenous, Black, and immigrant voices calling for power, reparation, and justice in this land.
Read this article:
WATCH: The Forverts premieres Yiddish version of Woody Guthrie’s classic, ‘This Land is Your Land’ – The Forward
Lyrics
דאָס לאַנד איז דײַן לאַנד פֿון װוּדי גאָטרי, 1940
פֿאַרטײַטשט פֿון ליבע גריץ און דניאל קאַהן
מיט חײם באָכנער, מײשקע אַלפּערט, און דזשאַש װאַלעצקי
כ’האָב מיר געװאַנדערט, אין אַ לאַנד אַ פֿרײַען
אַרױס פֿון מידבר, װי ממצרים
געזוכט אַ נײַעם ירושלים
דאָס איז אַ לאַנד פֿאַר מיר און דיר
רעפֿרען: דאָס לאַנד איז דײַן לאַנד
דאָס לאַנד איז מײַן לאַנד
פֿון קאַליפֿאָרניע ביז עליס אײַלאַנד
פֿון די גרױסע אָזערעס ביז די ברײטע ימען
דאָס איז אַ לאַנד פֿאַר מיר און דיר
איך גײ אַריבער די בערג און טעלער
אַרומגערינגעלט פֿון זיסע קעלער
די ריטשקעס מורמלען, די פֿײגל זינגען
דאָס איז אַ לאַנד פֿאַר מיר און דיר
כ’זע אַ גרױסן מױער מיט אַ שילד װאָס װאָרנט
װיל מען אַרײַנעט, שטײט אַז מע’ טאָר ניט
נאָר אױף יענער זײַט, שטײט דאָרטן גאָרניט
אָט איז די זײַט פֿאַר מיר און דיר
גײ איך מיר װאָגלען, די זון פֿון אױבן
נאָר בײזע װינטן צעבלאָזן שטױבן
דורך די טומאַנען הער איך געזאַנגען
דאָס איז אַ לאַנד פֿאַר מיר און דיר
אױף נאַסע גאַסן, אין טיפֿע שאָטנס
זע איך װי מענטשן בעטן נדבֿות
בײַ אַזאַ דלות, טו איך זיך קלערן
צי דאָס איז אַ לאַנד פֿאַר מיר און דיר
עס קען שױן קײנער אונדז ניט פֿאַרשטערן
די פֿרײַע װעגן אונדז ניט פֿאַרװערן
ניטאָ קײן צאַמען, ווען נאָר צוזאַמען
דאָס איז אַ לאַנד פֿאַר מיר און דיר
Transliterated Lyrics
(Daniel:)
Kh’hob mir gevandert in a land a frayen
Aroys fun midber, vi mi-mitsrayem,
Gezukht a nayem Yerushalayem,
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(REFREN:)
Dos land iz dayn land, dos land iz mayn land
Fun Kalifornye biz Elis Ayland,
Fun di groyse oz’res biz di breyte yamen,
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Sarah:)
Ikh gey ariber di berg un teler,
Arumgeringlt fun zise keler.
Di ritshkes murmlen, di feygl zingen:
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Lorin w/ piano:)
Kh’ze a groysn moyer mit a shild vos vornt:
Vil men araynet, shteyt az me tor nit
Nor af yener zayt, shteyt dortn gornit
Ot iz di zayt far mir un dir.
(Sveta & Patty w/accordion:)
Gey ikh mir voglen, di zun fun oybn,
Nor beyze vintn tseblozn shtoybn,
Durkh di tumanen, her ikh gezangen:
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Michael:)
Af nase gasn, in tife shotns,
Ze ikh vi mentshn betn nedoves
Bay aza dales, darf ikh zikh klern
Tsi dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Linda and all:)
Es ken shoyn keyner undz nit farshtern,
Di fraye vegn undz nit farvern.
Nito keyn tsamen, ven nor tsuzamen.
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
Literal translation of the Yiddish
I wandered into a free country
Out of the desert, as though from Egypt,
Looking for a new Jerusalem,
This is a country for me and you.
This is your country,
This is my country,
From California to Ellis Island,
From the Great Lakes to the wide seas,
This is a country for me and you.
I walk over mountains and valleys
Surrounded by sweet voices.
The streams murmur, the birds sing:
This is a country for me and you.
I see a big wall with a sign that warns:
If you want to enter, it says it’s forbidden
But on the other side, it says nothing,
That is the side for you and me.
I go wandering, the sun above,
But evil winds are blowing dust,
Through the haze, I hear singing:
This is a country for me and you.
On wet streets, in deep shadows,
I see people begging for change.
To see such poverty, I wonder
If this is a country for me and you.
There’s no one who can stop us,
Or forbid us the paths of freedom.
There are no barriers, if we are united.
This is a country for me and you.
1 thought on ““This Land is Your Land” in Yiddish”
I am honored to be the first comment because collectively, your voices carry the most impactful, moving presentation of this song (one of my favorites) that I have ever heard. As if this wasn’t enough, the interweaving of Yiddish lyrics ushered in global social issues from current and historical perspective, consistent with the foundation of your site.
Fishl, Editor of Derbay.org sent this to me and I am stunned. Your work is so important for several reasons: It creatively marries the lost and forgotten to our American psyche in such a musical way that the doors of history came crashing down for me and I literally left me with chills hearing words that were sung with passion and pain. All the this, while the upbeat tempo danced in my head.
Several aspects deserve special mention: Map of U.S. in Yiddish, novel lyrics, Zoom-Age appearance of performers and for me personally, the ability to read the Yiddish.
Shecheheyanu, that I lived to this moment to experience this. You are a Yiddish vaccine: potent and permanent and today I received my vaccination. Already, I am experiencing side effects, my hearing has been affected, for all I want to do is draw near and listen to more. No antidote in sight, none requested. If this is what it feels like to be Yiddish innocculated, then I celebrate the condition. I arrived to your rendition from the article on Isaac Bashevis Singer. How appropo that from Singer I am carried on your website’s wings to your voices and images. Full of meaning, begging questions, prodding me on to a musical sermon which reverberates inside my mind.