Manzanar

He said my name is Nakashima

And I'm a proud American

I came here in '27

From my homeland of Japan



And we picked your grapes and oranges

Made some money, bought a store

Until 1942

Pearl Harbor and the war



Came those relocation orders

They took our house, the store, the car

Then they drove us to the desert

To a place called Manzanar



The Spanish word for "apple orchard"

Though we saw no apple trees

Just the rows of prison barracks

And barbed wired boundaries



And we dream of apple blossoms

Waving free beneath the stars

Till we wake up in the desert

The prisoners of Manzanar

Manzanar



Fifty years, they've all but vanished

And now I am an old man

But I don't regret the day

That I came here from Japan



But on moonlit winter nights

I often wish upon a star

That I'd forget the shame and sorrow

That I felt at Manzanar



And we dream of apple blossoms

Waving free beneath the stars

Till we wake up in the desert

The prisoners of Manzanar

Manzanar