I'm a big Woody Guthrie fan, and I love the recording of the cast of "Woody Guthrie's America." I even have it on my MP3 player, so I can listen to the likes of "Deportee" (very topical today), "Lonesome Valley," "Better World a Comin'," "End of My Line," "Hard Ain't It Hard" and, of course, "This Land Is Your Land."
I once visited a friend who was teaching in Cyprus and I tagged along when the faculty was invited to an upscale Cypriot home for a luncheon. The dishes, such as grilled haloumi cheese, were served and the family started singing their own folk songs, filling the air with some gorgeous and painful songs about the history of their then-torn island. They asked us for a song about America, and the only song that all of the professors knew was the first verse to "This Land Is Your Land." A few knew a couple of the others, and I ended up reciting a couple of the verses (few want to hear my singing) they either forgot or didn't know:
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
God blessed America for me.
I remember that afternoon as one of the most beautiful of my life.
