‘The House I Live In’: Frank Sinatra and America

We’ve got new postage stamps now, 42 cents. Ten years after his death, Frank Sinatra will appear on millions of them.

Sinatra represented the many sides of America -- the puppet, the pauper, the pirate, the pawn and the king. He sang to us about the up and the down, shot down in May, back on top in June. And in one song in particular, during World War II, he described the best side of America:

"The House I Live In"

What is America to me?
A name, a map, or a flag I see
A certain word, democracy
What is America to me?

The house I live in
A plot of earth, a street
The grocer and the butcher
Or 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 by my side
The little town the city
Where my people lived and died

The howdy and the handshake
The air a feeling free
And the right to speak your mind out
That's America to me

The things I see about me
The big things and the small
That little corner newsstand
Or the house a mile tall

The wedding and the churchyard
The laughter and the tears
And the dream that's been a growing
For more than two hundred years

The town I live in
The street, the house, the room
The pavement of the city
Or the garden all in bloom

The church the school the clubhouse
The millions lights I see
But especially the people
- Yes especially the people
That's America to me.

Music to my ears. The lyrics are by Lewis Allan, who was well aware of bigotry, injustice and poverty in the United States, but also saw the potential for much better in “the dream that’s been a growing.” Allan wrote the song for a 10-minute movie short, which The New York Times today would call a secret propaganda campaign to prop up support for a war that was costing hundreds of thousands of American lives.

When we see those ol’ blue eyes in the mail, I hope we think of that song of America. It’s a song of our ideals, of our best instincts, of the power of freedom in the pursuit of happiness.

That’s worthy of music.

Frank Warner

Comments

[George]

41 cents!? Why would they put anybody on a 41 cent stamp? Sinatra is going on a 42 cent stamp.

[Frank Warner]

Wow. Looks like I got the earlier model. Thanks.

I'll change the post to 42 cents.