
"The Great American Melting Pot" is a song in Schoolhouse Rock!, which can be seen in America Rock. The song teaches us about the ethnic diversity of America.
Lyrics[]
My grandmother came from Russia
A satchel on her knee,
My grandfather had his father's cap
He brought from Italy.
They'd heard about a country
Where life might let them win,
They paid the fare to America
And there they melted in.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she's got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
America was founded by the English,
But also by the Germans, Dutch, and French.
The principle still sticks;
Our heritage is mixed.
So any kid could be the president.
You simply melt right in,
It doesn't matter what your skin.
It doesn't matter where you're from,
Or your religion, you jump right in
To the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
Ooh, what a stew, red, white, and blue.
America was the New World
And Europe was the Old.
America was the land of hope,
Or so the legend told.
On steamboats by the millions,
In search of honest pay,
Those 19th-century immigrants sailed
To reach the U.S.A.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she's got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
What good ingredients,
Liberty and immigrants.
They brought the country's customs,
Their language and their ways.
They filled the factories, tilled the soil,
Helped build the U.S.A.
Go on and ask your grandma,
Hear what she has to tell
How great to be an American
And something else as well.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she's got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
Trivia[]
- A factory smokestack has "YOHE" written on it for designer and producer Tom Yohe. In the late 1970s, Radio City Music Hall did a show celebrating America that included this short, and when Yohe saw it, he was embarrassed to see his name on such a large screen.
- Voted #19 of the top 25 favorite Schoolhouse Rock! songs.
- The recipe book lists various individual countries (and at least one US commonwealth), but only lists "Africans" for Africa. It also features a stereotypical depiction of an Indian boy in a turban on a bed of nails.