the Communist Party. Its popularity continued through the period of World War II — in autumn 1943, 200 African American soldiers performed the piece in a benefit concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. After the war, Robeson transferred from Victor to Columbia Records. Victor responded by withdrawing Robeson's ballad from their catalogue. In 1966, Vanguard Records released Robeson's recording on a 33 rpm record. It has been periodically revived, notably during the United States Bicentennial (1976). There is also a well-known recording by Odetta, recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Robeson's recording is currently available on CD. Invoking the American Revolution (it names several prominent revolutionary patriots and quotes the preamble of the Declaration of Independence), and the freeing of the slaves in the American Civil War (there is a brief lyrical and musical quotation of the spiritual "Go Down Moses"), as well as Lewis and Clark, the Klondike Gold Rush, and Susan B. Anthony, the piece draws an inclusive picture of America: "I'm just an Irish, Negro, Jewish, Italian, French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech and double-check American — I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Atheist, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Presbyterian, Seventh-day Adventist, Mormon, Quaker, Christian Scientist — and lots more." The lyrics periodically point at elite skepticism toward its inclusive American vision ("Nobody who was anybody believed it") before coming back to its refrain: For I have always believed it, And I believe it now, And now you know who I am. (Who are you?) America! America! Many performers of the ballad have made minor changes in the lyrics. For example, in the passage quoted above, the NYC Labor Chorus make several changes, including changing "Negro" to "African" and substituting "Jamaican" for "Litvak". Similarly, they add "Moslem" to the list of religions. In a passage near the end that begins "Out of the cheating, out of the shouting", Robeson in his 1940 recording adds "lynchings" to the list; the NYC Labor Chorus attempt to bring the piece up to date with: Out of the greed and polluting, Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Out of the lies of McCarthy, Out of the murders of Martin and John Notes References Peter Dreier & Dick Flacks, "Patriotism's Secret History". The Nation, June 3, 2002 issue. Accessed 31 January 2006. Paul Robeson Conference April 7–9, 2005 at