I call your attention to me,
I am America!
I come in the dark,
I burn and blaze the dark away!
I am electricity,
I set fire to the street
like lightning all heaven!
Whether you want to or whether you don't
you've got to see me —
the biggest crowd in the world comes to me,
richest and poorest, jolliest brotherhood,
crowds jostle crowds for me —
I am Broadway!
Whether you need it or whether you don't
you've got to buy what I sell:
I sell the products of this, my land,
as multiform, numerous and skillfully contrived
as the tiniest particles
of this, my earth and mountains,
of this, my lakes and rivers,
of this, my stars and sky!
My neighbor there, he's selling the same,
it's the best on the globe — after mine!
We're competitors in the main artery
of strife that gives life to the body
and perpetual ore to the soul!
I was born in America,
I was made in America,
and I'll go to the scrap-heap of America
to make room for some greater American!
Do I brag? —
sensitive, cultured foreigner,
why shouldn't I?
I'm the ego of the new world —
Africa, Asia, Europe,
the old world's dead, I'm the new!
I call your attention to me,
I come in the dark —
skeptical foreigner, listen to this:
dusty history, prepare a new page:
Tomorrow, you'll see me in Europe!