When you visit Google.com this morning, you’ll be treated to a graphic with the words “This Land Was Made For You And Me” in honor of July 4. The words are clearly a reference to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

Obviously, this is a popular American folk tune. But “This Land Is Your Land” was originally constructed as an ode to leftism. The original 1944 lyrics included the following stanza:

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;

Sign was painted, it said private property;

But on the back side it didn't say nothing;

This land was made for you and me.

Communism! It’s the American way. Guthrie had another variation of the stanza he liked to use:

As I went walking I saw a sign there

And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."

But on the other side it didn't say nothing,

That side was made for you and me.

Same difference. The original lyrics also had another stanza asking whether America was really that great:

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;

By the relief office, I'd seen my people.

As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,

Is this land made for you and me?

Not exactly Founding Fathers ideology there. But Guthrie was no Founding Father. He was a Communist fellow-traveler who wrote a weekly column for the The Daily Worker. He bragged – falsely, as it turns out, since he was never formally a member – that “the best thing that I did in 1936 was to sign up with the Communist Party.”

In all likelihood, it’s just an error of ignorance by Google. But now you know the rest of the story.