Camden, New Jersey. He began writing his autobiography, Bound for Glory, which was completed and published in 1943. It later became a motion picture in 1976 (see See Also).

　　In February 1940, Guthrie wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land." It was inspired in part by his experiences during a cross-country trip and in part by his distaste for the Irving Berlin song "God Bless America", which he considered unrealistic and complacent (and he was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio). The melody is based on the gospel song "When the World's on Fire," best known as sung by the country group The Carter Family around 1930.

　　Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verses:

　　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?

　　As I went walking, I saw a sign there,

　　And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing." [In another version, the sign reads "Private Property"]

　　But on the other side, it didn't say anything!

　　That side was made for you and me.

　　These verses were often omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself.

In May 1941, Guthrie was commissioned by the Department of the Interior and its Bonneville Power Administration to write songs about the Columbia River and the building of the federal dams; the best known of these are "Roll On Columbia" and "Grand Coulee Dam." Around the same time, he joined Pete Seeger in the legendary folk-protest groupAlmanac Singers, with whom he toured the country, and moved into the cooperative Almanac House in Greenwich Village.