"This Land Is Your Land"

One of the CDs we listen to regularly in the car right now is 20 Great Kid Songs: Music For Little People's 20th Anniversary Special Collector's Edition (click here). Song #4 on the album is "This Land Is Your Land" by Woodie Guthrie. This CD's version of the song is a really cool version by Willie Nelson and friends (lots of 'friends' including many verses sung in various musical/regional styles and some verses sung by children). Kyle loves this one track and requests to listen to it over and over and over and over. For the past couple of weeks I have noticed him listening to it intently in his carseat when I play it for him. His favorite part is a section where one of the verses is sung in Spanish. He waits in anticipation for the Spanish verse and will often say, "Mommy, where is the Spanish??!!" I'll say, "Just listen, it's coming." And sometimes he's say, "I'm so excited! I can't wait!" Over the past few days he's been starting to sing along for sections of the song. He enunciates the words very strongly, follows the tune almost perfectly, and sings many of the verses' with confidence-- especially the chorus where he really belts it out with precision: "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land, from California, to the New York Island, from the Red Wood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters, This Land Was Made for You and Me." This afternoon, on the drive home from their school, I noticed that Kyle was able to sing -- word for word (including the verse in Spanish) -- the entire song, almost perfectly.