You've Got to Be Carefully Taught

With the hateful chaos spreading in North Africa and the Middle East, Rodgers and Hammerstein come to mind.  We often speak of them as one.  Together they wrote, produced and directed great musicals in the great era of Broadway big-shows.   They tackled big topics in their shows:  Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, and The Sound of Music.    South Pacific  ran on Broadway for over five years.  The story is based on work by James Michener.  Many of the songs such as Younger than Springtime and Some Enchanted Evening are well known, and still performed often.  One song is perhaps less known.  It is not often recorded separately.  Too bad.  It is an important message today:

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummed

in your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a different shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate.

You've got to be carefully taught.