What is this land of America, so many travel there I'm going now while I'm still young, my darling meet me there Wish me luck my lovely, I'll send for you when I can And we'll make our home in the American land Over there all the woman wear silk and satin to their knees And children dear, the sweets, I hear, are growing on the trees Gold comes rushing out the river straight into your hands If you make your home in the American land There's diamonds in the sidewalks, there's gutters lined in song Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long There's treasure for the taking, for any hard working man Who will make his home in the American land I docked at Ellis Island in a city of light and spire I wandered to the valley of red-hot steel and fire We made the steel that built the cities with the sweat of our two hands And I made my home in the American land There's diamonds in the sidewalk, there's gutters lined in song... The McNicholas, the Posalski's, the Smiths, Zerillis too The Blacks, the Irish, the Italians, the Germans and the Jews The Puerto Ricans, illegals, the Asians, Arabs miles from home Come across the water with a fire down below They died building the railroads, worked to bones and skin They died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the wind They died to get here a hundred years ago, they're dyin' now The hands that built the country we're all trying to keep down There's diamonds in the sidewalk, there's gutters lined in song... Who will make his home in the American land Who will make his home in the American land