Dear Ivan

His truth is marching on

To Ivan Kovanovich, USSR

Dear Ivan, you don't know me and I don't know you

But I sure would like to meet you

Yes sir, I'd like to walk up and shake your hand and look you straight in the eye

And tell you that I haven't got one thing in this world against you

I know that the heads of our government

Seem to have problems getting together to talk things over

But I got a feeling if you and I could just sit down and talk

Not as representatives of anybody's government, but just two plain ordinary human beings

I feel that we might think a great deal alike

I'm an entertainer now, Ivan, I used to be a farmer just like you

I got a wife and three kids

And this may sound a little unpatriotic, but to me

These are more important than the heads of anybody's government

A few years back, you and I both left the farm and we put on a uniform

And we were on the same side of the fence, you and me, Ivan

And you know, I can't help but believe that we're still on the same side of the fence

That we would both like to see a world united in peace

I'll tell you something, Ivan, I love my land very much

Oh, we got some of the prettiest mountains and trees and rivers and valleys that you've ever laid eyes on

And I'm sure that you feel the same way about your country

And I know that neither one of us would like to see the face of our countries

Blackened by the hot breath of anybody's bomb

You know, they tell me that over there, you don't believe in a God

But though I've never met you

I can't help but believe that a man who's stood on a crisp, fall morning

And watched the sun rise over his farmland

Or he's planted a small grain of corn and seen it grow out of the fertile soul

Or better than that, Ivan, held your own baby in your arms

I know that you know that there's a God up there watching over each and every one of us

Ivan, when I put my babies to bed tonight

I'm gonna say a prayer for you and yours

And if you in your own way will say a prayer for me and mine

And maybe we can talk our neighbors into doing the same thing

This will be more powerful than any conference held over

Any conference table anywhere in the whole wide world

And then maybe we can live as God intended

Peacefully, together, yours truly, Jimmy Dean, USA