In the original stage version, Anita – thegirlfriend of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks, and the most important female character after Maria – praisesAmerica while a fellowPuerto Rican, Rosalia, supports Puerto Rico.[1] This version of the song deprecates the island and highlights the positive qualities of American life ("I'll drive aBuick throughSan Juan/If there's a road you can drive on"). The irony of this supposedly pro-American number, however, is its vibrantlyHispanic musical style, withLatin percussion, complexcross-rhythm andSpanish guitar.
In the1961 film version, Anita, played byRita Moreno, still sings in favor of the United States while Bernardo, played byGeorge Chakiris, replies with corresponding criticisms of America and American ethnicprejudice, especially against Puerto Ricans ("Life is alright in America/If you're all White in America"). Some of the original song's disparagement was removed. In 2004, this version finished at No. 35 inAFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.
The alternating bars of6 8 (six eighth-notes in two groups of three) with3 4 (three quarter-notes) (similar to aguajira) is a distinctive characteristic of the song. This rhythm has been called both ahemiola and ahabanera but is not really either. The two bar types alternate and are not superposed, as in a hemiola. The alternation is comparable with the "Habanera" from "Carmen", but "America" lacks the distinctive characteristic underlying rhythm of the habanera form.
Stephen Sondheim claims thatBernstein returned from a holiday inPuerto Rico and told him he had come across a wonderful dance rhythm called Huapango which gave him the idea for the song. Many years later, a friend of Sondheim's found, in a box of Bernstein's papers, an unproduced ballet called Conch Town which contained the tune. Sondheim concludes that Bernstein had invented the story of finding the rhythm on holiday simply so he could reuse an old tune.[4]
The composer's tempo instruction is "Tempo diHuapango".
An instrumental version, with the signature rhythm reduced to a uniform4 4, was released in 1963 by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass on their albumVolume 2.[5]
In 1968,The Nice, featuringKeith Emerson, covered an instrumental version of "America" as the band's second single. This version had the main theme playing against a straight4 4 beat, also including pieces ofDvořák'sNew World Symphony, then changing in the middle to6 8 for improvised guitar and organ solos. At a July 7, 1968, concert at theRoyal Albert Hall, the band controversially burned an American flag after performing the song.[7] Emerson later folded the melody into a great many of his jams including the finale medley onEmerson, Lake & Palmer's 1992-1993 tours, which also used musical themes from "Blue Rondo à la Turk", a jazz standard composed byDave Brubeck. An example of this medley can be found on the albumLive at the Royal Albert Hall.
The English psychobilly bandKing Kurt covered this song on an EP calledAmerica, released in 1986.
A version of this song was performed by the in-house band and singers to introduce a 2012 episode of the Polish version ofName That Tune,Jaka to Melodia?, complete with a set of dancers.
In 2003, the song was used in advertisements forAdmiral Insurance though with different lyrics.
In 1994, the song was the unofficial anthem at the1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States and was sung by theThree Tenors (Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti) atDodgers Stadium in Los Angeles to an estimated global TV audience of 1.3 billion viewers. The BBC also used it as its theme for its coverage of the World Cup.
A version of the song with truncated lyrics is used in the end credits of the 2018 filmVice.
