Jason Robert Brown How Can I Call This Home?
[GOVERNOR JOHN SLATON, spoken]
Today we honor those who honored us, some fifty years ago. Those who gave life and limb for Georgia and suffered unimaginable degradation. But never defeat. The men of Georgia and the women of Georgia have never been defeated...
[LEO]
I go to bed at night
Hoping when I wake
This will all be gone
Like it was just a dream
And I'll be home again
Back again in Brooklyn
Back with people who look like I do
And talk like I do
And think like I do
But then—
The sun rises in Atlanta again...
[SLATON, spoken]
They have risen from the ashes of war with honor and courage and strength!
[LEO]
These people make me tense
I live in fear they'll start a conversation
These people make no sense:
They talk and I just stare and shut my mouth
It's like a foreign land
I didn't understand
That being Southern's not just being in the South...
When I look out on all this
How can I call this home?
[SLATON, spoken]
I am proud to be a Georgian on this day![LEO]
These men belong in
Zoos
It's like they never
Joined civilization
The Jews are not like
Jews—
I thought that
Jews were Jews
But I was wrong
I thought I would be
Fine
But four years down the line
With ev'ry word it's very clear
I don't belong:
I don't cuss, I don't drawl
So how can I call this home?[ASSORTED SPECTATORS, spoken]
Excuse me!
Sorry!
Get your souvenirs!
Watch your step, Sir!
Where's the fella
With the beer!
Mama
That man pushed me!
Lucinda!
Hey now, fella!
You got balloons?
I want one!
Settle down! / I never
In my life! / I'll take a beer!
That Slaton's handsome...
[SEVERAL, sung]
La la la la in the land o' cotton...
[SLATON, spoken]
Proud that our state is growing and building!
[LEO]
Home calls, and I'm free of the Southern breeze
Free of magnolia trees and endless sunshine!
Evermore lives the dream of Atlanta
But not mine!
Not mine![LEO]
A Yankee with a
College education
Who by his own design
Is trapped inside the land that
Time forgot!
I'm trapped inside this life
And trapped beside a wife
Who would prefer that I said “Howdy” not “Shalom!”[SLATON & ENSEMBLE]
We stand together
In the great state of Georgia!
Strong and proud[LEO]
Well, I'm sorry, Lucille
But I feel what I feel
And this place is surreal
So how can I call this home?[ENSEMBLE I]
God bless the sight
Of the old hills
Of Georgia
The old red hills of
Old red hills of home[ENSEMBLE II]
Ever more lives
The dream of Atlanta
Ever more her eternal
Old red hills of home