"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" - Rodgers+Hart+Hammerstein Concert October 2016

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Description

"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" (sometimes "You've Got to Be Taught" or "Carefully Taught") is from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

South Pacific received scrutiny for its commentary regarding relationships between different races and ethnic groups. In particular, "You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught" was subject to widespread criticism, judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage.

Sung by the character Lieutenant Cable, the song is preceded by a line saying racism is "not born in you! It happens after you’re born..."

Rodgers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda. While the show was on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow." One legislator said that "a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life."

Rodgers and Hammerstein defended their work strongly. James Michener, upon whose stories South Pacific was based, recalled, "The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in."

Music: Richard Rodgers
Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Conductor: Drew Downing
Musicians: Marc Alexander (piano), Ivan Itod (viola), Evie Matthews & Matthew Chalmers (violin), Sava Djukic (cello)

Video and Post Production by:
Little Man Screaming & Skybird Entertainment

Producer: Mark White (contact: 0405 092 773/1962 markwhite@gmail.cm)
Camera: Chris McKee, Dean Woodward & Tom Conyers
Editor Tom Conyets