"This Land is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by American folk singer, Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in critical response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". When Guthrie was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio in the late 1930s he sarcastically wrote "God Blessed America for Me" before renaming it "This Land Is Your Land". The song was recorded in 1944 and published in 1945.