America
Producer
America Lyrics
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
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—
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
[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!
About
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
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.
- 1.Prologue
- 2.Jet Song
- 5.Maria
- 6.Tonight
- 7.America
- 8.Cool
- 11.The Rumble
- 12.I Feel Pretty
- 16.Finale