by Joan Staples, Hatboro, PA

It was the mid-seventies and my college years and I was in a student abroad program. Over the school holiday I was part of a small group of four long haired, flannel-shirted college travelers who went out to see Europe. We spent Christmas Eve in Munich and, after midnight services in a huge candle-lit church, we ended up in a local bar. The owner was so excited to have Americans in his establishment that he played “The Yellow Rose of Texas” over and over again on the jukebox for hours refusing to let us leave or let anyone play any other song. We argued little since free drinks were included in our American tribute! There was no explaining that there was much different music on the airwaves back home and that we came from a part of America nowhere near Texas.

We gave in and had some very real cultural lessons that night. Then, about mid-January, we were near the end of our trip and not happy about having it all come to an end. The trip had been fantastic but we were coming to the end. We arrived for a two-night stay in Amsterdam, having enough money left for a hunk of cheese, a loaf of bread, and a tour of the famous cafés of Amsterdam. The hostel we were staying in turned out to be a real dump; overcrowded with people that looked worse than we did! Having arrived late and tired, we took naps and awoke to discover that three of us had been robbed of the last precious money we had and one had met up with the resident peeping tom who lurked in the girls bathroom.

As we sat in the common room, dejected, broke, and deciding how to proceed, Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound” came on the radio. It was just what we needed to get our minds in gear, get out and make the most of our last night and day in Europe and then be ready to go home. “Home, where my thought’s escaping; Home, where my music’s playing….Homeward Bound…”

From Europe and home again these two songs always take me back to a time of freedom, discovery, and the knowledge of how music connects our lives to what is important, even when we are an ocean and continent away from home.