Counting Crows - “Round Here” (1993) and The Beatles - “Let it Be” (1970)
These two songs and their artists contain almost all of the elements you need to understand your typical Peace Corps Volunteer: mellow, attempts at being profound, dreadlocks (see the lead singer of Counting Crows and you’ll know how at least a handful of Volunteers in the group show up on their first day), guitars, open-minded religious references, and The Beatles. But what these songs mean for me are sing-a-longs. One of the most uplifting and memorable parts of my Peace Corps service was getting together with Volunteers and singing music. We were fortunate enough to have many talented musicians in our group and thanks to John, Jesse, Nina, Andy, Emily and others, we always had someone to lead us in a tune. Whether it was a campfire in the countryside, a long draining group training event, or New Years Eve in Montevideo, as long as somebody in the group had a guitar, we had no trouble sitting in a circle, drinking tereré and thinking of songs to sing.
“Round Here” became my routine wake-up song for some reason. Something about this song motivates me to get out of bed and get moving. I would let it blare on the tiny speakers on my One Laptop per Child computer as I made oatmeal, got dressed, and got ready to make the rounds around the community looking for someone to work bees with me, or take a walk around their fields. Hearing John sing it late at night with a full moon and unbelievably brilliant stars overhead… still gives me the chills just thinking about it.
“Let it Be,” beyond the obviousness of needing those lyrics to get me through a lot of the tough days, was the first song I learned on the harmonica. It became a great way to pass rainy nights when rain was pounding on the roof so loud that I couldn’t sleep. Singing “let it be” in the dark became a mantra that kept me from going crazy as drops of water, dripped, dripped, dripped, onto my bed and all over my leaky house. And lastly, as clichéd and cheesy as this may be, I think it rings true in the hearts of most Volunteers and although we may laugh about it, we at least hold on to some hope that maybe it’s true: “And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be.”
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