America (West Side Story song)

“America” is a well known song from the musical West Side Story. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics and Leonard Bernstein composed the music.

In the original stage version, Anita — the most important female character after Maria and the girlfriend of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks — praises America while a fellow Puerto Rican immigrant, Rosalia, supports Puerto Rico. This version of the song deprecates the island and highlights the positive qualities of American life (“I’ll drive a Buick through San Juan/If there’s a road you can drive on”). The irony of this supposedly pro-American number, however, is its vibrantly Hispanic musical style, with Latin percussion, complex cross-rhythm and Spanish guitar.

In the 1961 film version, Anita, played by Rita Moreno, still sings in favor of the United States while Bernardo, played by George Chakiris, replies with corresponding criticisms of America and American anti-immigrant prejudice, especially against Puerto Ricans (“Life is all right in America/If you're all white in America”). Some of the original song’s disparagement was removed.

In 2004, this version finished at No. 35 in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

The song employs a mixed meter:

The alternating bars of ⁶
₈ (six eighth-notes in two groups of three) with ³
₄ (three quarter-notes) (similar to a bulería) is a distinctive characteristic of the song. This rhythm has been called both a hemiola and a habanera but is not really either. The two bar-types alternate and are not superposed, as in a hemiola. The alternation is comparable with the “Habanera” from “Carmen”, but “America” lacks the distinctive characteristic underlying rhythm of the habanera form.

The composer’s tempo instruction is “Tempo di Huapango”.

Cover versions

An instrumental version, with the signature rhythm reduced to a uniform ⁴
₄, was released in 1963 by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass on their album Volume 2 (Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass album).

Trini Lopez covered "America" in 1963 for his debut album At PJ's.

In 1968, Keith Emerson, then in The Nice, covered this song as their second single. This version featured the main theme playing against a straight ⁴
₄ beat, also including pieces of Dvořák's New World Symphony, then changing in the middle to ⁶
₈ for improvised guitar and organ solos. Emerson later folded the melody into a great many of his jams including the 14-minute "Finale (Medley)" on the 1993 Emerson, Lake & Palmer release Live at the Royal Albert Hall which also featured musical themes from "Blue Rondo à la Turk", a jazz standard composed by Dave Brubeck. The band Metallica also incorporated a few bars from the song in the opening riff from their song, "Don't Tread on Me." The "America" melody again featured prominently in a 1986 jam with Paul Shaffer on Late Night with David Letterman.

Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem performed an instrumental rendition on a 1979 episode of The Muppet Show before being interrupted by various Muppets from other countries.

A version of this song was performed by the in-house band and singers to introduce a 2012 episode of the Polish version of Name That Tune, Jaka to Melodia?, complete with a set of dancers.

Usage in popular culture

A theme from "America" was referenced by John Williams for his celebratory For New York, composed in 1988 for Bernstein's 70th birthday gala.

In 2011, the song was covered by the cast of musical comedy television series Glee in the fifth episode of the third season, "The First Time" (aired on November 8), with character Santana Lopez (portrayed by Naya Rivera) on the lead. A minor controversy was caused over using the film version of the song, while a high school would normally use the stage version.

In 2003, the song was used in advertisements for Admiral Insurance though with different lyrics.

External links

• Song lyric (stage version)
• Song lyric (film version)
• http://loc.gov/loc/lcib/0709/westside.html