A Country Rag-Boom!

A Country Rag

graphic: Stars and Circles Forever, oil on canvas,
Ginger Stone Studio, Jonesborough, TN

Midi music files (click to play):
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Battle Hymn of the Republic (Jazz: Aces of Deep)
Star Spangled Banner

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.... with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." -- U.S. Declaration of Independence

BOOM!


I am a nation of conquerers

not the meek or the mealy-mouthed



American from all the

shivering boundaries

the best the hardest

the most worn out



I'm your end of meaning

a place where countries come

to scream the last dream dreaming

tomorrow from yesterday lied



Warrior goddess yellow red

black brown I'm unclassified

the force you never reckoned

from a sky you never tried



Blistering with burnt ideals

fathered of sterling stone

I'm the light that will not die

leading on this globe

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...." -- Amendment IV, Bill of Rights, Constitution of the United States

".... a vast majority of Americans are unhappy with the direction of our country, and with our President's leadership.... When we learn that we have been lied to, we should be unhappy. When people you trusted, and confided your heart-felt soul and dreams to, turn out to be con-men -- you should be unhappy!... This is not justice, especially in a country that was founded on the rule of law.... Inequality, lies, and judicial and racial bias can make even the happiest person sad. The greatest thing about America is the promise in our constitution that we can and will be better. Now, that makes me happy." -- No, I am Not Happy, by Dr. Errington C. Thompson, in The Urban News, October 2007, Asheville, NC



THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

(words and music by Woody Guthrie,

Guthrie Center, Housatonic MA)



Chorus:

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York Island

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me



As I was walking a ribbon of highway

I saw above me an endless skyway

I saw below me a golden valley

This land was made for you and me

Chorus



I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

And all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me

Chorus



The sun comes shining as I was strolling

The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling

The fog was lifting a voice come chanting

This land was made for you and me

Chorus



As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there

And that sign said - no tress passin'

But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin!

Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus



In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple

Near the relief office - I see my people

And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'

If this land's still made for you and me.

Chorus (2x)



Š1956 (renewed 1984), 1958 (renewed 1986)

and 1970 TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

"... Love's not some kind of victory march. It's a cold and it's a very broken hallelujah ...." -- "Hallelujah," More Best Of Leonard Cohen

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!

-- America the Beautiful, quoted in "The Pioneer Frontier," a publication of Tusculum College, Greeneville TN

Where the heck am I? -- Beam me back home -- Whisk me away

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email publish@countryrag.com .