I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev’rything free in America
For a small fee in America!

These lines are from the song “America” in the Broadway musical *West Side Story* (1957). The lyrics were written by Stephen Sondheim, with music by Leonard Bernstein, for a show that transposes *Romeo and Juliet* to mid‑1950s New York amid tensions between white working‑class “Jets” and Puerto Rican “Sharks.” “America” is staged as a spirited, competitive exchange—often between Anita and other Puerto Rican women and their male counterparts—debating the promises and disappointments of life in the United States. The quoted couplets crystallize the show’s satirical take on the American dream: exuberant assimilationist rhetoric undercut by the realities of cost, exploitation, and compromise.

The lyric works by pairing upbeat, slogan-like praise (“Ev’rything free in America”) with an immediate punchline (“For a small fee in America”), exposing the gap between national myth and lived experience. Sondheim’s internal rhymes and quick reversals mimic advertising patter, suggesting that “freedom” and “opportunity” are often commodified. In the dramatic context, the line also captures immigrant ambivalence: genuine excitement about safety and possibility coexists with sharp awareness of economic barriers and social prejudice. The humor is not merely cynical; it is a survival strategy—turning frustration into wit while insisting on the right to judge America on its actual terms rather than its promises.