"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a song featured in the 1958 film South Pacific with music composed by Richard Rodgers and lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. In the song, Lieutenant Cable (John Kerr) bitterly comments on the racism that he and Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor) were raised to internalize. At the same time, he is unable to overcome his own prejudices and marry Liat (France Nuyen).
Lyrics[]
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!
You've got to be carefully taught!
I was cheated before
And I'm cheated again
By a mean little world
Of mean little men.
And the one chance for me
Is the life I know best.
To be on an island
And to hell with the rest.
I will cling to this island
Like a tree or a stone,
I will cling to this island
And be free—and alone.
Emile de Becque • Nellie Forbush • Joseph Cable • Luther Billis • Bloody Mary • Liat • George Brackett • William Harbison • Rob McCaffrey • Henry • Ngana • Jerome • Stewpot
