Steve Dalmas: A fun English lesson through music

As you know, this Wednesday our American colleague in Peñaranda's satellite school, Steve, came to our class to play a small gig on his acoustic guitar. He explained that he's involved in a project on teaching English through music, which sounds terribly interesting.

We were all amazed at his single-handed guitar playing technique, which he started developing years ago after he suffered an unfortunate accident which paralysed his right arm.

Steve performed both his own material and well-known songs (well, some of them probably more than others), which we really enjoyed and sang along to. It was good fun indeed!

As he was singing, I thought I could write a post on our blog about the songs he chose for the recital. (except for Let it Be, which of course you know perfectly well). Starting with one of the most famous folk songs ever about America (the USA, that is), legendary singer-songwriter Woody Guthri's "This land is your land". Legen has it that he wrote it in the late 40s when he got sick and tired of endlessly listening on the radio to "God Bless America", which he found excessively patriotic and complacent. Often deemed a communist in his native America, Woody altered the verses over the years and gradually made the song into a political statement, as he firmly believed workers had the same rights as the rich and powerful.

There's a famous live cover I love by "The Boss", which is the clip I embed here. The lyrics scroller does not faithfully reflect Bruce's actual delivery but it'll give you an idea of the song's true meaning. By the way, listen carefully to his moving opening speech ...

Next Steve sang "Proud Mary", by the awesome Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of my favourite American bands of the 60s. Front-man John Fogerty wrote the tune about the namesake "paddle-wheel", one of the many picturesque river boats rolling on the Mississippi River. I love the energy of John's powerful voice and the pounding of the guitar riffs!

Sadly, Steve ran out of time before he could deliver his last song, Bob Marley's "No Woman, no Cry", a politically-charged reggae classic ("the hypocrites mingle with the good people we meet"), whose lyrics depict the "government yard in Trenchtown", the slums where Bob himself used to live as a young man. He reassures a woman (his mother?) as he's leaving the place that the slum won't get her down and everything will be alright, so she should "shed no tear". Down below I embed his famous live rendition. Enjoy!

Thank you so much, Steve, for your spirit and a great lesson!