Transcript of Reuniting For America 250

Hello, I'm Tim Rice, and welcome to a special July 4th edition of Behind the Story. I am joined today by my esteemed colleague Lyndon Blake, Daily Wire reporter and host of the That's So Criminal podcast. Lyndon, thank you so much for joining me today.

You know, it is an honor to talk a little July 4th with my founding father extraordinaire, Tim Rice.

I love that. So this episode is coming to you folks at home On July 4th, American Independence Day, the 250th anniversary of American independence. But it is also July 4th themed. And this is maybe my favorite America 250 story that we've published at The Daily Wire. And that's saying something because we've been doing a lot of America 250 coverage. But Lyndon, I just— you got to just start, start, tell us, tell us about this story.

Okay, so I'm just going to preface this with my mom and her high school friends, the class of 1983. They roll deep and they still hang out all the time. A very tight-knit class. So about 2 months ago, I'm down hanging out with my parents in Alabama, and my mom is like, call your boss right now. And I'm like, why? And she's like, I have a great America 250 story for him. And I'm like, well, let me hear it before I call him. She's like, I just want write it. You know, our parents, they love that we're in media, and sometimes they're going to want to take advantage of it, but you, you can't always let them get you. But I was like, okay, Mom, what's the story? And she goes, we want to re-record a song that we wrote when we were in 4th grade for America's 200th birthday. For America 250, I've started a Facebook group. Our teacher's still alive, Miss Holdridge. She's down to re-record, and it was just such a great song. And I'm like, okay. And my mom is very passionate about this. She starts pulling out the lyrics and starts breaking out in song.

I'm from a musical family. I'm not musical, but I'm from a very musical family. And she's like, isn't this the coolest thing?

But so hold on, hold on. Let's back up for a second because there's— we've, we've gone through all of the history. Let's go back. Let's go back to the bicentennial. Right? So it's 1975. Let's start there. Start walking us through, like, what are— what, what, what, what was going on? How did this originally happen?

Okay, well, part to, to know, to understand— and here I want to just clear this up because there's been comments in the article— the bicentennial was 1976, okay? They got this homework assignment in 1975 when they were in 4th grade. The process— let's go back to the '70s now— the process to get things done was doesn't let me go make a TikTok. So this preparation for the bicentennial as a country started months and months before that year. So when they were in 4th grade, think about it, 1975, coming off the Vietnam War. I mean, there's just— it's, it's the '70s. And so there was a lot of hope in the bicentennial. And Miss Holdridge, Susan Holdridge, she's a saint. She wanted everyone in the 4th grade class at Laurel Elementary School in Alexander City, Alabama, to write a poem about why they love America.

So—

and you're snickering at the way I say poem, and I just want it on record that Miss Holdridge has done media availability and she says poem the way I say poem. So guys, I don't know, we need to—

we need to preserve America's regional dialects.

You're doing exactly the work. In Ellicott City, Alabama, we say poem. So they wrote poems about why they love America. This is in 1975. And then Miss Holdridge was like, let's turn this into a song. She got some other people in town to help compose the music, and the students combined their words, their lines together. The only thing Miss Holdridge helped them out with was she helped them rhyme a word with over, something to rhyme with over. So she put in the White Cliffs of Dover. So that was the one adult contribution. The rest was fourth graders.

For those of our listeners who are not, uh, fully up to speed on their 20th century song facts, The White Cliffs of Dover was the song that, uh, British and then later American troops sang in World War I when they were in the trenches on the Western Front. There'll be bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover tomorrow, just you wait and see. That was their kind of Johnny's Gonna Come Home, uh, song. So a nice link too to, to more historical precedent.

Oh, and, and the lyrics of the song are just darling, and I'll share some of those in a little bit. But yeah, back then they composed the poems into a song called My Grand American Home, and then they went to my church, First Baptist Church, Ellicott City, back in the '70s, and they recorded it, and it was on a tape cassette, and they took it to the one local radio station in town, and they actually played it. How fun is that? And somehow over the months— and no one really knows how, Miss Holdridge doesn't know— it's like, you know, they say like word travels fast, but it ended up— the song ended up getting to the governor's office. And Governor George C. Wallace, that governor of Alabama, he listened to the song, loved the song so much that he wrote a telegram to the 4th grade class saying how special it was that they got to write this song and how much he enjoyed listening to it.

That is— it's hard to stress, like, that would have been cool regardless of which governor it was. But George Wallace— this is a year after Leonard Skinner released Sweet Home Alabama. This is a year out. This is Americans across the country are singing in Birmingham, we love the governor. Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo. And that governor is singing along to My Great American Home, whatever the title is. Home. So, all right, so let's, let's— you mentioned the lyrics.

Okay, I haven't pulled up lyrics.

Are— Lyndon, can I— can we induce you? Can we convince you to sing on the podcast?

Yes, you know I love karaoke. Let me pull up on my phone, so this will be easier for you to see.

We don't know the tune. I could, I could recite the lyrics, but I think it's the fourth—

not actually, not unfortunately, fortunately. I have listened to this song so much over the last several weeks since the re-recording on June 14th that I could go take this to the American Idol stage, I think, and belt it out. Here it is. Okay. You ready?

I'm so ready.

You can travel this whole world over, from the lakes to the White Cliffs of Dover. No place on earth is like the place of my birth, my grand American home. I love America so, I will never ever go. It's a grand old place, you can tell by my face. I love America so.

That's—

wow. I mean, that was the first part of the song.

That's, that's also— that's the first time we've ever had singing on Behind the Story, which considering the fact that I'm the host is kind of crazy. I've yet to break into song. So thank you.

Can you add autotune? This is not an autotune mic. Can we, can we fix that?

We'll do what we can. Yeah, we can, we can clean it up in post. Um, all right. So two things that I, that Great. One, the tune. I think you said in your piece that adults in the town wrote the tune, or the kids didn't write the music, right? They wrote the lyrics and then somebody else wrote the music.

So yeah, and there's music, I mean, that goes with it, and you're musical, and I would love if you could shed some light on like what some of these notes are for the music. Maybe, um, can you see like what we're Can you tell anything about this?

I mean, I haven't read sheet music in a really long time. I can probably— I could probably figure it out, uh, but no, I mean, that looks like sheet music.

Yeah, so they wrote that and yeah, they recorded it to the cassette tape. It travels, makes it down to George Wallace's desk, and then, you know, in the interim, was this like—

was it like— were people— were they playing this on the radio a lot in your town? Like, were people talking about this, or—

they did perform perform it at the high school football stadium. Okay, but like, when I tell you my town is so small— this is not, this is not, you know, you know, the City of Dreams, Alexander City, Alabama. You know, it's not where you go to, to really take off in your musical career. It's no Nashville. But they did sing at the stadium. It was a big deal. There was 92 original students that did this assignment, and the paper did a story on it.

It was, it was—

there was a lot, again, there was a lot of pride in this effort. And just to give credit to Miss Holdridge, she assigned them with an assignment that they talked about all throughout the years. They get together for Christmas, they get together for class reunions. I mean, they are a party group. And my mom said they would just all the time kind of break out in song. I love America.

So which brings us back to the beginning, which is, so when your mom calls you and says, I have a great America's 50 story, did you like—

is—

did you know about this like growing up? Like, were you thinking like, oh, she's like— you knew this, like, this is part of your childhood, this is part of your life?

No, shockingly, she, you know, she made me try out for the Oscar Mayer wiener commercial and sing that song, but she never made me sing my grand American home for anybody on the 4th of July. It's a disservice.

So she just calls you and says, we need to write about this. The first you're hearing of it, which is hysterical considering the fact that it seems that you grew up around these people, these women, her friends. And if they're singing it at parties and somehow you never caught—

I'm not invited. You think I'm invited to the parties? No, they're like, no.

So they get not— it's not just to write about, obviously, the fact that they wrote this song 50 years ago. It's that they were getting back together to record it again. So now walk us through that.

Yeah, so Mom reached out on the, you know, Facebook class page, who's interested. Everyone wanted to do it, men, women. They were so excited to get back together. So they did get the group back together on June 14th at the same church, First Baptist Church, Ellicott City. They had the pianist as the accompaniment for the song, and they recorded it again. And I will add my dad's special 250th birthday boat flag just laid over the piano in the church. That was like the, you know, the stage presence there. And the boat flag is way too big for the boat, but it makes a great piano cover for my Grand American Home performances.

And so you, you obviously talked to your, your mom, but you got to interview some of the other, some of the other singers, some of the other folks who are, who are, you know, participating in this. And how did they, what was their feeling about, you know, being able to, to get back together and do this again?

I think the coolest thing is everyone just loved getting back together. It was really cool to hear people say, I love our country. And they were saying, you know, we loved our country back then in 4th grade, but now when we're in our 60s, we really appreciate what it means to be an American, to live in America, American, and they do not take their freedoms for granted.

They—

one lady said, I know how blessed I am, and I'm especially proud that I can live out my faith freely. And they were just really— it was, it was nostalgic, and they were just so proud. And I think that's something that today that we don't see as much, but this group was saying, no, it's cool to love your country. And they also wanted to stress that you can make learning fun like this. Like, think about all the assignments. I can't name a homework assignment that I had, but this crew, they were saying that, I hope this inspires teachers, and I hope it inspires students to respect their teachers and to understand what impacts they can have on their life. And it was just a beautiful moment, and everyone was really excited. And a lot of the people were saying, you know, I remember being in the church and wearing our matching shirts with our red bandanas, all patriotic. But they're saying what I remember most is how this song never left us, how it's just traveled with us throughout the years. So of course, the next big milestone birthday for America, they want to get back and sing it.

And, and Miss Holdridge is, is still around. She's— she was there, which is really cool. Like, you say in the piece that she was a very young teacher, and, you know, that's sort of kind of the genesis of this, like, young teachers are the ones who are you know, let's do a poem and then let's turn it into a song, like very excited. But so she's— I mean, what, you got to talk to her? What, that must have been amazing for her to not just see that the song had legs but that her class is still like independently hanging out. Like, was she just kind of aghast at this?

Yeah, Miss Holdridge is 84 years old. She is bebopping all around town. We all know each other in this town, so I've known Miss Holdridge my entire life, and she was so excited. And she just said, you know, like, I knew they were great kids, but they're even better adults now, and it's so cool to see them just get back together. I mean, it had to have been overwhelming for her if she— when she really sat there and thought about it, because these are people that she had in her class and they're still best friends. She created such a fun environment and a bond between this class that, I mean, I'm telling you, that's, that's the most underrated part about this whole story is My Grand American Home is a part of the Benjamin Russell Class of '83's life, and what a cool, special thing to be a part of. But yeah, Miss Holdridge was tickled that they wanted to re-record it. She never thought it would turn this big, ever.

I mean, it's wild. There's been so much talk about kind of comparing the bicentennial with the semi-quincentennial, and you know On the one hand, the country is in a similar kind of, you know, controversial Republican president, you know, dust-ups in Iran, gas prices are high. Like, it does feel like a '70s moment in a lot of ways. But the difference is that, as you pointed out, right, the bicentennial was seen kind of universally nationwide as this, this thing, this hopeful thing, this thing that the country could come together. That could bring the country together, and now not so much. Did that come up at all when you all were re-recording? Like, did any of the— was anyone thinking about how, you know, it's a little bit of a different environment that they're for the re-record now, like the re-release?

I think that what you can learn from the re-recording is that these people— there was 30 people there from the re-recording, and they have their own lives and beliefs and everything, but at the center of it is a love and more importantly a respect for their country. And I've always pride— prided myself in being from where I'm from. I think we are a very loving community that just knows how to disagree, knows how to love each other. And when the re-recording came up, I mean, it was just beautiful that all these years later, people from their— their lives have gone all over the place, still come back together and bond over the love for being an American. And getting in the feels for America 250 and really getting back to the roots of why this country was founded— I mean, it's hard. It's so sad that so many people don't realize what— how special our country is and don't realize the people that came before us and, and their beliefs and what they wanted and, and how it was for the people. Like, this, this country is for us. And I just hope that a story like this of people that have seen it all coming back together, even through the country's turmoils and the conflicts and the disagreements, that if we don't start at the root and love and respect our country, how can we make it better?

Amen. Now, before we wrap up, there's one last thing that we would be remiss if we didn't talk about, which is that your mom, you know, obviously with, you know, the bar was set pretty high with George Wallace listening to and acknowledging the song back in '75. Your mom has a goal for the rerecording. She has someone in mind who she would like to hear the song.

And that is President Trump, obviously. I will say, this is exactly what she wrote. She says that she can envision Miss Holdridge, her classmates, and everyone surrounding the president sitting at his desk in the Oval Office while he signs a proclamation declaring my grand American home a national treasure. We gotta make it happen. Do it for Miss Holdridge!

As you write in the piece, what can I say, my mom shoots for the stars.

She's crazy. She will do it. And one more thing I do want to add, and I, and I touched on it in the piece, but this is another thing. I mentioned how close the class was. All these original documents, the, the George Wallace telegram, the original lyrics, all of that was kept in this treasure chest at this furniture store in Ellicott City. That one of their classmates, David McGee, owned. That was my mom's best guy friend growing up, all through adulthood. He unfortunately passed away during COVID and then right after that, his furniture store burned to the ground. And they had digital copies of it, but the original artifacts that they could go back and visit anytime they want, they're not there anymore. And so this rebirth— and you can think of it as a rebirth for our country, just like a re— a renewal of love and spirit for our country. They wanted to give this song kind of a rebirth too and give it new life, because just 6 years prior, it was a, it was a sad time for their class, and it was a sad time. They lost their friends and everything.

But I thought that was cool too, how they were saying, you know, like, we want to, we want to bring it back to life, and, and David would be on the stage singing it with us if he was still here. So again, a very close group of people that love their country so much. And I'm telling you, they've already gone up to Birmingham, speaking of Sweet Home Alabama, and sang it on some news stations up there. So they will keep trekking to DC. This group will not be stopped.

I mean, it's a good time to remember that obviously, you know, we've been celebrating America 250 in advance of today, but really America 250 starts today. It's America 250 for the whole next year. So I think, and I hope, that we have not seen or heard the last of my great American home. Let's try to get those folks to Washington, maybe even over to Pennsylvania Avenue. Lyndon Blake is a Daily Wire reporter and the host of the That's So Criminal podcast and the daughter of one of the most patriotic songwriters of all time. Lyndon, happy Independence Day. Thank you so much for taking us behind the story.

Thank you so much. Do you want to harmonize on the way out? I love America.

I will never ever go. No place on earth like the place of my birth. I love America so.