Today the Nobel Committee awarded President Barack Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
If I may suggest, click on the video clip now, and follow on below the fold to read the introduction.
Then, if it all synchronizes correctly, the lyrics and pictures will complement the vocal.
Follow me. Let's see if this works....
The video clip you're listening to is of Yusuf Islam (nee Cat Stevens) performing "Peace Train" at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in December 2006.
The Nobel Peace Prize that year was awarded to both Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, India, "for advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, especially women, through their pioneering microcredit work."
Yusuf Islam has himself been awarded the "Man of Peace" award from the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
For only the third time, has a sitting US president been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The past presidential recipients have been Woodrow Wilson in 1919, Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, and post-presidentially Jimmy Carter was honored in 2002.
Today, in a surprising unanimous vote, the Nobel Committee chose to award President Barack Hussein Obama this year's Peace Prize.
The committee said it honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Let us hope that our future on this earth is marked each day somewhat less by war, and somewhat more by peace.
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PEACE TRAIN
by Yusuf Islam
(The entertainer formerly known as Cat Stevens)
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Now I've been happy lately,
Thinking about the good things to come.
And I believe it could be.
Something good has begun
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(Children in Asia cheering President Obama.)
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Oh, I've been smiling lately,
Dreaming about the world as one.
And I believe it could be.
Some day it's going to come.
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(Middle Eastern children watching Obama's Cairo's speech.)
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Cause out on the edge of darkness,
There rides a Peace Train.
Oh, Peace Train, take this country.
Come take me home again.
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Yes, I've been smiling lately,
Thinking about the good things to come.
And I believe it could be.
Something good has begun.
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(The President speaks to an open-air audience in Germany.)
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Oh, Peace Train sounding louder.
Glide on the Peace Train.
Come on now, Peace Train.
Yes, Peace Train, holy roller,
Everyone jump upon the Peace Train.
Come on, Peace Train.
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Get your bags together.
Go bring your good friends, too.
'Cause it's getting nearer,
It soon will be with you.
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(President Obama addressing the United Nations.)
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Yes, come and join the living,
It's not so far from you.
And it's getting nearer,
Soon it will all be true.
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Oh, Peace Train sounding louder.
Glide on the Peace Train.
Come on, Peace Train, Peace Train.
Yes, Peace Train, holy roller,
Everyone jump upon the Peace Train.
Come on now, Peace Train.
(The President and Malia at the Jefferson Memorial.)
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Now I've been crying lately,
Thinking about the world as it is.
Why must we go on hating?
Why can't we live in bliss?
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Cause out on the edge of darkness,
There rides a Peace Train.
Oh, Peace Train, take this country.
Come take me home again.
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Oh, Peace Train sounding louder.
Glide on the Peace Train.
Come on, Peace Train.
Yes, Peace Train, holy roller,
Everyone jump upon the Peace Train.
Come on now, Peace Train.
Come on the Peace Train.
(Inauguration Day: January 20th, 2009.)
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Sidebar: The same day the President was awarded the Peace Prize is also notable as the First Dog's birthday.