We drive through WVA several times a year, en route to visit my brother et al and my extended family. When I was in high school and would make the trip with my parents, my mother would sing that dang "Country Road" song every single time we crossed the border into WVA, in either direction. Except her memory of the lyrics was tenuous at best, and she couldn't really remember the tune all that well, either. Not being familiar enough with the actual song to correct her, I sang along -- wrongly, but at least consistently so -- enough times to have committed the mutated version to memory. So I have this rambling, off-tune rendition of the song drilled into my head, and I can not help but think of it any time I pass through or hear of the great state of West Virginia. I believe this might be worse than the original, mainly because Mom couldn't figure out how the chorus ended, so she just kept singing, "Mountain Mama...West Virginia...Mountain Mama...Take me home...Country Road...Mountain Mama...etc." It's like the song that never ends, except with a far less appealing melody.
It's my cross to bear in life.