Although I live now in New Brunswick, Canada the song "Take me home, Country roads" is an anthem to all exhiles who have been forced because of economics, corrupt polliticians thoughout the years and dirty coal mine operators of days long ago to look back with some pride as to whom they are and to be proud that they are from a loand that has been taken from them. Much like Zion, "how can we sing a song of Zion in a strange land." Maybe one day we can all return home if it is only in our dreams. It is a State that has had great riches and some of the poorest people. Sure it has changed, but not compared to the rest of the lower 48. It is a song that brought tears to my dying father's eyes. Although Denver G-d rest his soul did not write nor ever was in West Virginia to my knowledge brought an anthem that far overweighed the State song... The West Virginia Hills, the song, "Country Roads" brought out the meaning that their could be pride amidst great poverty and the Scotch Irish herritage that was the back bone behind the Revolutionary War (Remember only Non-British Subjects settled on the frontier so they would be a buffer between the armies of New France and their Indian allies, and once again in the Civil War by claiming Statehood in 1863. The Song speaks of the people being like the trees which are younger than the mountains. Maybe one day there will be hope for the landlocked state surrounded by the Appalachian Mountain Chain. While West Virginia may at times seem to be the cradle of inbreeding, poverty and ignorance, the opposite is also true. It is a State of contradictions and meanings. But, above all things it is a land of homecomings and memories.