At the end of World War II, Frank Sinatra starred in a short film called The House I Live In meant by it’s writers to combat anti-semitism and prejudice. It received special recognition at the Academy Awards that year, and the song that bears its name, which appears at the end of this video (which runs about nine minutes but is well worth watching), is about America:
Here are the lyrics:
What is america to me
A name, a map, or a flag I see
A certain word, democracy
What is america to meThe house I live in
A plot of earth, a street
The grocer and the butcher
Or the people that I meetThe children in the playground
The faces that I see
All races and religions
Thats america to meThe place I work in
The worker by my side
The little town the city
Where my people lived and diedThe howdy and the handshake
The air a feeling free
And the right to speak your mind out
Thats america to meThe things I see about me
The big things and the small
That little corner newsstand
Or the house a mile tallThe wedding and the churchyard
The laughter and the tears
And the dream thats been a growing
For more than two hundred yearsThe town I live in
The street, the house, the room
The pavement of the city
Or the garden all in bloomThe church the school the clubhouse
The millions lights I see
But especially the people
- yes especially the people
Thats america to me
Awesome!
[...] 4, 2007 Posted by vjp in Race, National, Virginia, Local, Politics. trackback Found this over at Below The Beltway. I’m no Sinatra fan but I was mesmerized by the song at the end, which I’d never heard [...]