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Lyrics
The Water is Wide
traditional. with additional lyrics by Chuck Phillips
The water is wide, too wide to cross
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat, that can carry two
And we both shall row, my love and I
Oh love is gentle, and love is kind
The sweetest flower, when first it's new
But love grows old, and turns so cold
And fades away, like the morning dew
There is a ship, that sails the sea
It's loaded deep, as deep can be
But not as deep, as the love I'm in
And I know not if, I sink or swim
(narrator)
Many people have traveled in boats across the wide oceans to live in America. In the 1860s, thousands of men and women traveled from China to work on the railroads. The Chinese immigrants were hardworking, dependable and peaceful. However, from 1882 until 1943, most Chinese immigrants were prevented from entering the United States, and it was a regrettable time of anti-Chinese discrimination.
Wide! the water is wide.
And neither have, I wings to fly
Give me a boat, that can carry two
And we both shall row, my love and I
(Amy Yu)
David Yu remembers his grandmother talking about her grandfather named Chen Dongsen who immigrated to America in 1868. He had left his beautiful young wife in China because he had planned to make money and return to her. But this never happened. A few years later, Chen Dongsen married a Chinese American woman in San Francisco and they opened a successful hardware store. David Yu also remembers that his parents and grandparents had to live through many terrible years because of discriminatory laws and racial violence in the United States. However, by 1944, David's father was an excellent pilot for the US Army Air Corps, and after World War II, he was treated as a hero. Finally, anti-Chinese discrimination was becoming less and less, and David's family was able to live a much happier life in California. Today, David Yu is a very successful doctor, and, my father.
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