Harry Targ
In December 2009, my daughter set up Diary of a Heartland Radical. She taught me how to post blog essays and as they say “the rest is history." I promised to post one essay a week but have often done more. Occasionally I repost an essay that seems particularly contemporary. On April 15, 2026, according to Word Press I logged a one million hits (not more than half are a result of my sore finger).
As I approached this exalted number, I began to fantasize about what I would write: against war and the rise of fascism, a further condemnation of genocide and economic blockades, healthcare for all, taxing the rich, the destruction of our education system by the rightwing, the environmental crises and on and on.
But then I saw Bob Wolpert’s daily posting on two public figures who were very influential in my life: Pete Seeger and Studs Terkel. So below to celebrate my one millionth blog hit, I celebrate by sharing Studs Terkel reading a poem by Pete Seeger (provided by musical chronicler Bob Wolpert).
Blessed be the Nation
Pete Seeger
(read by Studs Terkel and posted by Bob Wolpert)
"People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history. It goes from one generation to another." - Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel was an author, historian, actor and broadcaster.
In 1985, Studs received the Pulitzer
Prize for General Non-Fiction for “The Good War” and he is best remembered for
his oral histories of common Americans. Studs hosted a long-running radio show
for 45 years in Chicago.
In 1997, numerous well-known musicians along with writer Studs Terkel recorded songs written, adapted or performed by Pete Seeger for a tribute album to highlight Pete’s musical contributions and his tradition of mixing songs and political activism. The resulting double CD is “Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger”.
On the recording, Studs Terkel reads Pete Seeger’s “Blessed Be the Nation” about which Pete wrote:
“In 1964, I took my youngest daughter canoeing on a beautiful lake in Maine. We camped on a little island and were dismayed to see the beach littered with bottles and cans. We picked ’em all up. I had a marker with me and wrote this graffiti on a flat stone. I never wrote a tune, but someone else can try.”
The words below are the ones Pete left on the rock. Pete never put music to these words.
Cursed be the nation of any size or shape,
Whose citizens behave like naked apes,
And drop their litter where they
please,
Just like we did when we swung from
trees.
But blessed be the nation and blessed
be the prize,
When citizens of any shape or size
Can speak their mind for any reason
Without being jailed or accused of
treason.
Cursed be the nation without equal
education,
Where good schools are something that
we ration,
Where the wealthiest get the best that
is able,
And the poor are left with crumbs from
the table.
Blessed be the nation that keeps its
waters clean,
Where an end to pollution is not just
a dream,
Where factories don’t blow poisonous
smoke,
And we can breath the air without
having to choke.
Cursed be the nation where all play to win,
And too much is made of the color of
the skin,
Where we do not see each other as
sister and brother,
But as being threats to each other.
Blessed be the nation with health care for all,
Where there’s a helping hand for those
who fall,
Where compassion is in fashion every
year,
And people, not profits, is what we
hold dear.
Click the link below to experience Studs Terkel's poignant reading of Pete Seeger’s “Blessed Be the Nation”.
