Tom Russell - Manzanar lyrics

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