They came
by day and they came by night
They came like cattle,
they were packed so tight
They rode on stairways and
they slept on the decks
The only thing they knew was
they could not turn back
They came from
England and they came from
France
They came from up and down
all of the continent
They came in floods and
they came in waves
They came for glory and
they came to escape
Oh, of the healthy, eyes of the lame
Eyes of the free and the
eyes of the chained
Eyes of the wealthy, eyes of the poor
Eyes of an
Indian who rides nevermore
Always remember and never forget
Beneath all the dirt and be
neath all the sweat
Who looked to the future and
knew what it meant
Were the hearts and the minds,
the dreams and the souls
In the eyes of the immigrant
People held their breath in
the morning light as
New
York harbors pulled into sight.
They stood on the ladders and the decks
just to see the statue of a lady they called
Liberty.
Hands gripped the rails,
hungry eyes peered up.
Some were crying from their eyes,
some were crying from their hearts.
Lookin' to the future and
dreamin' what it might be
A son or a daughter could
be the president
Out of
Ellis
Island they poured like sheep
Under the land and into the street
With the hands of the children and
the coats on their backs
They brought nothin' more
than they could fit in a sack
To be carpenters, steel workers,
firemen and cops
Play in a rag, sew shoes and
start neighborhood shops
To work with their hands and
work with their backs
Pulling coal from the ground and
putting smoke up the stairs
Oh, eyes of the healthy, eyes of the lame
Eyes of the free and the
eyes of the chained
Eye s of the wealthy,
eyes of the poor
Eyes of an
Indian who rides nevermore
Always remember and never forget
Beneath all the dirt and be
neath all the sweat
Who looked to the future and
knew what it meant
Where the hearts and the minds,
the dreams and the souls
And the eyes of an immigrant
Some tried to settle,
some could not afford
Some kept dreaming of a
new frontier
Everybody was convinced
they had a place in the sun
It wasn't what you were so much
as what you could become
Everybody's future wasn't
everybody's dream
The land could be barren and
the streets could be mean
It's a fact in the suburbs and
the farms and the shacks
Here you only move ahead,
there ain't no place to fall back
Eyes of the healthy, eyes of the lame
Eyes of the free and the
eyes of the chained
Eyes of the wealthy, eyes of the poor
Eyes of an
Indian who rides nevermore
Always remember and never forget
Beneath all the dirt and be
neath all the sweat
And look to the future and
you won't admit
Where the hearts and the minds
The dreams and the souls
And the eyes
Of the immigrant
Of the immigrant
I'll be in my grave
I'll be in my grave
Thank you
Thank