For lands afar and mine
Way back in early 2003, I wrote about hearing the Indigo Girls perform "Finlandia" with Joan Baez at a concert in Berkeley in the mid-'90s.
At the time, I noted that I couldn't find a recording of them singing the song. Somehow I failed to follow up on that posting two years ago, when I finally found their version of "Finlandia" in the iTunes Store, on their Rarities album, for the usual iTunes price of 99¢.
It came up in my music rotation just now, and I had to stop what I was doing and turn up the volume and close my eyes. Just stunning.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
As I noted in my earlier entry, it's my very favorite patriotic song. And this is a particularly excellent rendition of it, with magnificent harmonies. If you haven't heard it, go give it a listen.
(To be precise, the song is technically called "Song of Peace"; words by Lloyd Stone to the tune of Sibelius's "Finlandia." But I think almost everyone who knows it just calls it "Finlandia.")
