THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
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Year Published: 1945
Description: This 1945 RKO short film "The House I Live In" was made to oppose anti-Semitism and promote religious tolerance and ethnic harmony in the wake of WWII. It stars Frank Sinatra, who appears playing himself, and was written by Albert Maltz (who later famously was blacklisted due to his leftist leanings). In the film, Sinatra is seen taking a smoke break from a recording session. He sees a group of boys who are chasing a Jewish boy. Sinatra intervenes and gives his two cents about how all Americans should be respected, regardless of their religion, and that "one American's blood is as good as any other". The song "The House I Live In" originally appeared in the musical revue Let Freedom Sing, which opened on Broadway on October 5, 1942. The song lyrics were by Abel Meeropol and music by Earl Robinson. Sinatra's version went on to become a national hit. The lyrics to the song "The House I Live In" describe the wonderful things about the United States, with images of the town grocer, butcher, and the churchyard. Here, the "house" is a metaphor for the United States. Meeropol is also famous for writing the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit", which became Billie Holiday's signature song. Like Albert Maltz, Meeropol and Robinson were leftists who both ran afoul of the government in the McCarthy Era. Sinatra introduced the song in 1974 with these words: "It's a song about this great, big, wonderful, imperfect country. I say imperfect because if it were perfect it wouldn't be any fun trying to fix it, trying to make it work better, trying to make sure that everybody gets a fair shake and then some. My country is personal to me because my father, who wasn't born here, rest his soul, he made sure that I was born here. And he used to tell me when I was a kid that America was a land of dreams and a dreamland, well I don't know if our country fulfilled all of his dreams while he was alive, but tonight with all of us together for this hour, it sure fulfills my dreams. And to all of you in the country and all of you watching tonight, here's a song about a place we call home, probably the greatest nation ever put on this earth."
Complete Record: This 1945 RKO short film "The House I Live In" was made to oppose anti-Semitism and promote religious tolerance and ethnic harmony in the wake of WWII. It stars Frank Sinatra, who appears playing himself, and was written by Albert Maltz (who later famously was blacklisted due to his leftist leanings). In the film, Sinatra is seen taking a smoke break from a recording session. He sees a group of boys who are chasing a Jewish boy. Sinatra intervenes and gives his two cents about how all Americans should be respected, regardless of their religion, and that "one American's blood is as good as any other". The song "The House I Live In" originally appeared in the musical revue Let Freedom Sing, which opened on Broadway on October 5, 1942. The song lyrics were by Abel Meeropol and music by Earl Robinson. Sinatra's version went on to become a national hit. The lyrics to the song "The House I Live In" describe the wonderful things about the United States, with images of the town grocer, butcher, and the churchyard. Here, the "house" is a metaphor for the United States. Meeropol is also famous for writing the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit", which became Billie Holiday's signature song. Like Albert Maltz, Meeropol and Robinson were leftists who both ran afoul of the government in the McCarthy Era. Sinatra introduced the song in 1974 with these words: "It's a song about this great, big, wonderful, imperfect country. I say imperfect because if it were perfect it wouldn't be any fun trying to fix it, trying to make it work better, trying to make sure that everybody gets a fair shake and then some. My country is personal to me because my father, who wasn't born here, rest his soul, he made sure that I was born here. And he used to tell me when I was a kid that America was a land of dreams and a dreamland, well I don't know if our country fulfilled all of his dreams while he was alive, but tonight with all of us together for this hour, it sure fulfills my dreams. And to all of you in the country and all of you watching tonight, here's a song about a place we call home, probably the greatest nation ever put on this earth."
Transcription
[Music] sonata recording take three [Music] is [Music] more than i could bear to find that i'm forsaken if you're a fantasy then i'm content to be in love with lovely you and pray my dream comes true i long to kiss you but i would not dare i'm so afraid that you've made vanish in the air [Music] so die if our romance should break us [Music] i hope i never wake up if you are a dream [Music] just give me five minutes and i'll have the other number ready i'll get a smoke next number boys yeah but ten against one that's not very fair ah come on what's it all about look at your business scared to tell me no i'm not as scared i'll fight you even not if i can help it i just want to know why the gang won we don't like him we don't want him in our neighborhood or going to our school i've been living here as long as you what's he got smallpox or something we don't like his religion his religion look mister he's a dirk ah hold on i see what you mean you must be a bunch of those nazi werewolves i've been reading about mr are you scrolling not me i'm an american well what do you think we are nazis don't call me a nazi my father's a sergeant in the army he been wounded even though hey i bet he got some of that blood plasma this wound is so bad he had to get it three times son anybody in your family ever go to the blood bank sure my mother and my father both uh-huh you know what i bet you maybe his pop's blood helped save your dad's life that's bad what's bad about it well don't you see your father doesn't go to the same church as his father does that's awful do you think maybe if your father knew about it in time he would rather have died than to take blood from a man of another religion would you have wanted him to die would your mom want him to die no look fellas religion makes no difference except maybe to a nazi or somebody is stupid why people all over the world worship god in many different ways god created everybody he didn't create one people better than another your blood's the same as mine mine's the same as his do you know what this wonderful country is made up it's made up of a hundred different kind of people and a hundred different ways of talking and a hundred different ways of going to church but they're all american ways wouldn't we be silly if we went around hating people because they comb their hair different than ours wouldn't we be a lot of dopes my dad came from italy but i'm an american but should i hate your father because he came from ireland or france or russia wouldn't i be a first class fat head you guys remember pearl harbor why that sucked us so it looked like we could never do anything about it but a couple of days later something very important happened close your eyes let me tell you about it come on come on close your eyes all of you i want you to imagine there was a job battleship the haruna and one of our planes spotted it you know what it takes to bomb a battleship it takes guts and know-how and teamwork and our boy sure needed plenty of it because that jump was thrown up enough flat to get out and walk home on but the pilot had only one thing on his mind to get over that ship and he did and then the bombardier pushed a button and a 500 pound tomato smacked that zap right in the middle yep they sank it and every american threw his head back and felt much better the pilot of that ship was named colin kelly an american and a presbyterian and you know who dropped the bombs meyer 11 an american and a jew you think maybe they should have called the bombing off because they had different religions think about that fellas use your good american heads don't let anybody make suckers out of you well gotta go to work what do you work i think ah you're a kid come here they all stand here and no hissing allowed what is america to me a name a map or a flag i see a certain word democracy [Music] what is america to me [Music] a 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's i work in the worker at my side the little town or city where my people lived and died the howdy and the handshake the air of feeling free and the right to speak my mind out that's america to me the things i see about me the big things and the small the little corner newsstand and the house a mile tall the wedding and the churchyard the laughter and the tears the dream that's been growing for 150 years [Music] pavement of the city or a garden all in bloom the church the school the clubhouse the million lights i see [Music] but especially the people [Applause] [Music] god [Music] come on man [Music] so [Music] you
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