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<\/a><\/p>\nWritten….hmmmm…I’d say about the copyright year of 1997, with the memories of a lil’ neighborhood in Georgia fresh in my mind.<\/p>\n
I’d lived there for four years, and though I’d met some beautiful people, the predominant society was that of conformity, rather than unique individualistic expression. Church, dress style, social activity. I even heard of a development that required you to paint your house a certain color. I wrote little when I was there. It could have been for other reasons, such as a grueling post graduate schedule or taxing relationship.\u00a0 Strangely, I wrote a lot about that town in the years after I left.<\/p>\n
Obviously the song is about issues much more problematic than individual expression, but I remember that the pressures such as to go to Bible Study really hit a personal cord.<\/p>\n
Musically, I remember the influences as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.\u00a0 At the time,\u00a0 I was actually a die hard Ani Difranco fan, and to this day never owned a single Guthrie or Seeger album. However, immersing myself in the overtly political Difranco material created a deep awe for the subtly political sing-a-longs like “This Land Is My Land”. They’re almost like children’s songs,\u00a0 and in fact, I didn’t realize they were political until about that time!<\/p>\n
This song was made into an incredible music video by filmmakers Missy Donatuti and Michael Kinney, as well as featured in the soundtrack of a Dawson’s Creek episode and two documentaries (about women who rock and another about feminism).<\/p>\n