Barbara Bedell: Witnessing the joy of a naturalization ceremony

The honorable Judge John McGuirk presided over a recent naturalization ceremony at the Orange County Emergency Services Center where 103 people representing 45 different nations became American citizens.

If ever you doubt the joy that being part of this country brings, attend a naturalization ceremony, then pinch yourselves for taking so much for granted.

As Orange County Executive Eddie Diana said in addressing the group, "America's citizenship is more than a cultural tradition. It is a fundamental promise of our democracy. Our Constitution does not limit citizenship by background or birth. Our nation is bound together by a shared love of liberty and a conviction that all people are created equal with dignity and value."

To that I say, "Amen." Congratulations and welcome!

Beacon's Pete Seeger, songwriter and entertainer, is a treasure beyond measure. His success with his music and the Sloop Clearwater in working to clean up the Hudson River is part of our history, but his music and his love for humanity is engraved in many hearts.

Recently Jerry Kleiner and his wife, Barbara, obtained tickets to a concert at the Ritz Theater at 111 Broadway in Newburgh to attend a concert that was part of the Tom Humphrey Guitar Series honoring the famed Hudson Valley-based guitar maker who died earlier this year. Kleiner is a 15-year employee in our pre-press department at the Times Herald-Record. His artist wife is a relative of Seeger's wife, Toshi. Jerry and Barbara shared the joy they felt by attending the concert. Also shared was a story about the words in one of Seeger's tunes that has been "a mystery" for Jerry.

He recently heard Garrison Keillor sing a tribute to the late Studs Terkel with Woody (1912-67) Guthrie's "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh." The lyrics sung that day included,

"... Arrived on the day the Titanic went down ... So long...."

"I've always loved that song," said Kleiner, who while searching recently for the original lyrics found a sheet music for sale of the Weavers' version on Folkways (Decca records) from 1950. "It tells the tale of lovers courting until the talk gets serious. Then it's always the chorus, "So long, it's been good to know yuh," said Kleiner.

"Now I know that the version offered by Cisco Houston (Woody's frequent traveling companion) is the original, all about the Dust Bowl days, getting away from the 'dusty old dust' covering the houses and 'blocking out the sun.' It was an environmental disaster during the Great Depression as described in Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath.'"

As it turns out, the Weavers, a quartet that included Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman, wanted to record the song but were told nobody wants to hear that "old Dust Bowl stuff" as it was the beginning of the post-war boom," Kleiner said.

"So the Weavers got Woody to come over, and he tore off some brown paper, sat down on the floor, and wrote a new set of lyrics, keeping and expanding the "sweethearts" verse, it seems," said Kleiner. "That's the song the Weavers recorded for their hit version with orchestra great Gordon Jenkins."

There are many in our nation who know that version. One is my daughter, Barbara Ann, a special education teacher on Long Island. She was a student at Clinton Elementary School in Poughkeepsie when our family lived there in the late 1960s-early 1970s. Pete Seeger was a frequent visitor to the school, engaging each class in the singing of that song and other folk tunes he made famous. My daughter also was among the lucky ones — me, too — to ride on the Sloop Clearwater, with Seeger aboard strumming his banjo and conducting sing-alongs.

When the recent two-disc DVD special edition of "Pete Seeger, The Power of Song" was released, as the only authorized biography of the native New Yorker born on May 3, 1919, I purchased several copies. For me, it's a wonderful tribute to Seeger, and a timeless 100-minute escape with memories. My daughter shared it with her students who had never heard of Pete Seeger, but they were attentive. Today they're part of another generation that is humming his tunes. Thanks, Pete.

Also on view will be framed art by photographic artists Renee Stover of Fair Oaks, her daughter Ellie Stover, a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Gertraud Fendler of Virginia, formerly of Bloomingburg. A portion of the proceeds from sales will benefit the nonprofit Orange County Land Trust.

The show can be viewed through early January. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday. For information, call Mainframe (342-5335), which is closed Sunday and Monday.

The museum, located in a beautiful former bank building, is one of Orange County's hidden treasures. Exhibits of manuscripts and documents are always on view. Admission is always free.

Hours are from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and from noon-4 p.m. Sunday. For information, call the museum, 569-4997.

Barbara Bedell's column appears daily. Call her at 346-3125.