America Lyrics

[ROSALÍA]
Puerto Rico
You lovely island
Island of tropical breezes
Always the pineapples growing
Always the coffee blossoms blowing...

[ANITA]
Puerto Rico
You ugly island
Island of tropic diseases
Always the hurricanes blowing
Always the population growing
And the money owing
And the babies crying
And the bullets flying...

I like the island Manhattan—
Smoke on your pipe and put that in!

[WOMEN]
I like to be in America
Okay by me in America
Everything free in America—
For a small fee in America
[ROSALÍA]
I like the city of San Juan

[ANITA]
I know a boat you can get on

[ROSALÍA]
Hundreds of flowers in full bloom—

[ANITA]
Hundreds of people in each room

[ANITA & WOMEN]
Automobile in America
Chromium steel in America
Wire-spoke wheel in America—
Very big deal in America

[ROSALÍA]
I'll drive a Buick through San Juan

[ANITA]
If there's a road you can drive on

[ROSALÍA]
I'll give my cousins a free ride—
[ANITA]
How you get all of them inside?

[ANITA & WOMEN]
Immigrant goes to America
Many "hellos" in America!
Nobody knows in America
Puerto Rico's in America


[Instrumental]

[ROSALÍA]
I'll bring a TV to San Juan—

[ANITA]
If there's a current to turn on

[ROSALÍA]
I'll give them new washing machine

[ANITA]
What have they got there to keep clean?

[ANITA & WOMEN]
I like the shores of America
Comfort is yours in America
Knobs on the doors in America
Wall-to-wall floors in America
[Instrumental]

[ROSALÍA]
When I will go back to San Juan—

[ANITA]
When you will shut up and get gone

[ROSALÍA]
Everyone there will give big cheer!

[ANITA]
Everyone there will have moved here!

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About

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Genius Annotation

In this iconic musical number, the Sharks argue amongst themselves whether it was a good idea to immigrate to America, or if they should’ve just stayed in Puerto Rico.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Chita Rivera & Marilyn Cooper say about "America"?
Genius Answer

From Sondheim’s Finishing the Hat:

I had underestimated the speed of the music, which turned the collision of consonants into major crashes. The music in this instance came before the pile-ups: Lenny [Bernstein] had returned from a vacation in Puerto Rico fired up, he told me, by a dance rhythm he had heard called the huapango, which seemed a perfect choice for the song, and was. What I didn’t know at the time was that he had written the tune years earlier for an unproduced ballet called Conch Town.

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