The Immigrant

The U.S.'s origins

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for this week’s song, “Immigrant”, by John McCutcheon. If you’d like to hear the song before you read the background, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics (written in italics). Comments and questions are welcome. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEFL (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

Immigrants_seated_on_long_benches,_Main_Hall,_U.S._Immigratiion (Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

(686 words)

Many people in the United States will celebrate Independence Day this week on July 4^th. The day is the anniversary of the U.S. becoming a separate country from Britain 248 years ago. 

Throughout its history, people from many countries came to the U.S. in search of work and success. Today’s song is about some of those people.

I am an immigrant

I am a stranger in this place

Here both for the grace of God 

Go I

for the grace of God go I means that you are very lucky to be where you are and have the things you have when others don’t.

I am an immigrant

I have left everything I own

To everything I've known

I say goodbye

In the next verse, “She” refers to the Statue of Liberty in New York. There is a message there that says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses (many people together) yearning (wanting) to be free.” This is part of a poem that means the United States is a place that welcomes people from other countries who are looking for a better life for themselves and their families.

She said: "Give me your tired"

Lord, you know I'm weary (tired)

When she said "Give me your poor"

She's talking to me

One of your huddled masses

Yearning to breathe free

And I never have lost sight of

What this journey has been for

See how she lifts her lamp (the Statue of Liberty is holding a torch in her right hand to light the way to freedom)

Beside that golden door

Hungarian_Immigrants_Cleveland (Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

The next verse talks about being an Irishman, a person from Ireland. In the 1800s, there was a disease there in the potato crops. Potatoes were the main source of food for many people. The British government at the time, did not help the people of Ireland very well. Also, the exports of food from Ireland during this time made the situation worse.

With so many people starving due to famine, other diseases spread in the country. As a result about a million people died, and another million tried to escape by leaving Ireland. Many went to the United States. They worked hard (put our backs to the wheel) to try to build a new life.

I am an Irishman

The famine put us to the test

Away into the West

Like wild birds flying

We put our backs to the wheel

With a heart that always yearned for home

We made this place our own

And about (almost) died trying

In the 1800s, many people came from China. They worked on farms, as gardeners, in factories that made fabric (mills), and the most well-known job was their labor on the Transcontinental Railroad. 

I am Chinese

I worked your mills, your yards, your mines

Laid your railroad lines

With my two good hands

The Chicano/Latino workers have been an essential part of the American workforce throughout its history, working in agriculture, domestic service, factories, construction, and many other skilled labor jobs.

I am a Chicano

In your orchards and your fields

I have gathered in the yields

For this hungry land

The U.S. is home to people from countries all over the world. It continues to inspire many people to seek “the American Dream” of becoming successful by working hard and making an honest living.

I am Nigerian

I am Iranian, a Jew

From Laos, Katmandu

I am your story

I am a long, long line

One you have forgotten that is true

I am everything you knew

I am your glory

Calling it a "dream" suggests that these ideas might not have come true for many Americans and people who want to be Americans. The U.S. has had a difficult history in many, many ways. Indigenous nations were occupied by European settlers, slavery was accepted in many parts of the country, only white male landowners were allowed to vote initially, Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps, and many other unfair things have made — and still make it hard for many people in the United States to achieve the dream.

Chaplin_The_Immigrant (Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

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Question:

What is your image of “The American Dream”?

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Vocabulary

immigrant 移民

yearn 切望する

lose sight of 見失う

starve 飢える

famine 飢饉

domestic service 家事労働

construction 建設

orchard 果樹園

gather 集める

yields 収穫

Jew ユダヤ人

indigenous  先住民

occupied 占領

slavery 奴隷制

initially 当初

unfair 不公平

achieve 達成する

Learn more about John McCutcheon at his website: https://www.folkmusic.com/