Body & Soul and the stereotypical American

The other day on Facebook, a friend was asking things to show her foreign exchange student about America. I suggested she teach her a traditional American song like, "This Land is Your Land."  Immediately someone responded to my post by saying, "Do not do that. You want her to enjoy her stay, not be tortured by American stereotypes." Hm. I have to say I was a bit offended by that comment! First of all, when did singing "This Land is Your Land" become a "stereotypical American" thing to do?   Also it turns out this song is actually a bit of a protest song written in response to, "God Bless America." Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land is Your Land" during the depression because he heard other patriotic songs that he felt glossed over the struggles of the American people.  All those out of work and some people losing their homes, etc. The message of the song is that America is about being inclusive of all different classes, races, ethnicity and religions. 

 Since when it is a bad thing to sing the songs we learned in school? I have taught these songs to refugees and people who are ESOL (English as a second language) to help them practice their English. Some old songs like "Home on the Range" for example go all the way back to the 1800s. All these songs are about American history. Since when are we so ashamed and hateful of our own history?
 
I do have to say, I am not a political person. I don't enjoy reading about politics or going to rallies or even signing petitions (though I do that). But I do believe in creative art forms and I believe that the songs and art people created are good historic stories that help us to understand what people were going through at the time. We can read a history book but that was likely to have been written by a historian who was not there. Songs on the other hand were written by people during the times they were written. So I think it's interesting to sing our songs and think about what was going on back then?

As you can see, I feel strongly about this. :)
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So now for the funny part. Last Wed. at my usual nursing home gig I was asked by one of the residents "Did you change your name to Body & Soul?"   (ha ha)  This is because the nursing home usually writes my name in the time slot of the schedule  but instead it said, "Body & Soul."  (due to a mix up on the schedule) Not a bad idea to go by that stage name to see what happens.  What do you think?