The House I Live In

Album: Romance (1945)
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  • What is America to me
    A name, a map, or a flag I see
    A certain word, democracy
    What is America to me

    The house I live in
    A plot of Earth, a street
    The grocer and the butcher
    And the people that I meet

    The children in the playground
    The faces that I see
    All races and religions
    That's America to me

    The place I work in
    The worker by my side
    The little town the city
    Where my people lived and died

    The howdy and the handshake
    The air a feeling free
    And the right to speak your mind out
    That's America to me

    The things I see about me
    The big things and the small
    The little corner newsstand
    Or the house a mile tall

    The wedding and the churchyard
    The laughter and the tears
    The dream that's been a growing
    For a hundred and fifty years

    The town I live in
    The street, the house, the room
    The pavement of the city
    Or the garden all in bloom

    The church the school the clubhouse
    The million lights I see
    But especially the people
    That's America to me Writer/s: EARL ROBINSON, LEWIS ALLAN
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Sentric Music
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

  • Naomi Julian from Pagosa Springs, ColoradoI also love this song and wish it was our national anthem. It talks about love and brotherhood between races and the immigrants and workers who built this country. God bless America talks about the rockets red and glare and bombs bursting in air. The house I live in seems so appropriate for this moment.
  • Pascal from Boulder, CoAbel Meeropol, alias Allan Lewis, was not pleased to find that Sinatra had skipped the line "My neighbors, white and black" in the film.
    The lyrics reproduced here bear only a nominal resemblance to those originally written. Sinatra had only a minimalist sense of democracy.
    His rendition was sure not to offend the ears of Nixon and Reagan before whom he performed it.
    For Allan Lewis's original lyrics, check out http://www.laborarts.org/exhibits/paulrobeson/thehouseilivein.cfm
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 27th 1969, Connie Francis performed "The House I Live In" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
    In 1945 Columbia Records released Frank Sinatra's original version of the song; it reached #22 on Billboard's Best Sellers Chart (the B-side of the record was "America the Beautiful")...
    R.I.P. Mr. Sinatra (1915 - 1998), Mr. Sullivan (1901 - 1974), and Ms. Francis, born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, will celebrate her 76th birthday this coming December 12th, 2014.
  • Lynn from Philadpehia, PaI was a choir member in 1961-62 at Abington High School in Pa when we sang this song in one of our concerts. I always have loved it...it's very tender and we need to consider it mightily today.
  • Sal Pellegrino from Inverness Fl, FlThis song should be played to every man woman abd child in this wonderful country we need everyone to pull together to get over these rough times
  • Tom from Wilmington, Nc This was a very nice and enjoyable free trip for me. Thanks for the lyrics and the movie. I was in Germany in 1946 during WW2, where I first saw Frank Sinatra's 10 minute short, "The House I Live In." What a trip that was! Whoever you are, LOVE AMERICA.
  • Neville from Perth, Western Australia, AustraliaFrank Sinatra and Neil Diamond do a duet on this song.
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