Album: West Side Story (1957)
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  • 1957 Broadway version

    [Rosalia]
    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!

    [others]
    I like to be in America!
    OK by me in America!
    Ev'rything free in America
    For a small fee in America!

    [Rosalia]
    I like the city of San Juan

    [Anita]
    I know a boat you can get on

    [Rosalia]
    Hundreds of flowers in full bloom

    [Anita]
    Hundreds of people in each room!

    [All]
    Automobile in America
    Chromium steel in America
    Wire-spoke wheel in America
    Very big deal in America!

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

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

    [Rosalia]
    I'll give my cousins a free ride

    [Anita]
    How you get all of them inside?

    [All]
    Immigrant goes to America
    Many hellos in America;
    Nobody knows in America
    Puerto Rico's in America!

    [Rosalia]
    I'll bring a TV to San Juan

    [Anita]
    If there a current to turn on!

    [Rosalia]
    I'll give them new washing machine

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

    [All]
    I like the shores of America!
    Comfort is yours in America!
    Knobs on the doors in America
    Wall-to-wall floors in America!

    [Rosalia]
    When I will go back to San Juan

    [Anita]
    When you will shut up and get gone?

    [Rosalia]
    Everyone there will give big cheer!

    [Anita]
    Everyone there will have moved here!


    1961 movie version:

    [Anita]
    Puerto Rico
    My heart's devotion—
    Let it sink back in the ocean
    Always the hurricanes blowing
    Always the population growing
    And the money owing
    And the sunlight streaming
    And the natives steaming

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

    [Girls]
    I like to be in America
    OK by me in America
    Everything free in America—

    [Bernardo]
    For a small fee in America

    [Anita]
    Buying on credit is so nice

    [Bernardo]
    One look at us and they charge twice

    [Rosalia]
    I'll have my own washing machine

    [Juano]
    What will you have though to keep clean?

    [Anita]
    Skyscrapers bloom in America

    [Girl]
    Cadillacs zoom in America

    [Girl]
    Industry boom in America

    [Boys]
    Twelve in a room in America

    [Anita]
    Lots of new housing with more space

    [Bernardo]
    Lots of doors slamming in our face

    [Anita]
    I'll get a terrace apartment

    [Bernardo]
    Better get rid of your accent

    [Anita] AND THREE GIRLS
    Life can be bright in America

    [All Boys]
    If you can fight in America

    [All Girls]
    Life is all right in America

    [All Boys]
    If you're all-white in America

    (an interlude of WHISTLING and DANCING)

    [Anita and Consuelo]
    Here you are free and you have pride

    [Bernardo]
    Long as you stay on your own side

    [Anita]
    Free to be anything you choose

    [All Boys]
    Free to wait tables and shine shoes

    [Bernardo]
    Everywhere grime in America
    Organized crime in America
    Terrible time in America

    [Anita]
    You forget I'm in America

    (An interlude of MORE DANCING)

    [Bernardo]
    I think I go back to San Juan

    [Anita]
    I know a boat you can get on

    [Bernardo]
    Everyone there will give big cheer!

    [Anita]
    Everyone there will have moved here Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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