The House I Live In

(album: My Heart Sings - 1961)

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 at my side
The little town or city where my people lived and died
The "howdy" and the hand-shake, the air of feeling free
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 news-stand and 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 fifty years

The town I live in, the street, the house, the room
The pavement of the city, or a garden all in bloom
The church, the school, the club house
The million lights I see, but especially the people, that's America to me