"The Immigrant" | ||||
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Single by Neil Sedaka | ||||
B-side |
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Released | March 1975 | |||
Recorded | 1975 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 3:43 | |||
Label | Rocket/MCA (US) Polydor (UK) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody | |||
Producer(s) | Neil Sedaka, Robert Appère | |||
Neil Sedaka singles chronology | ||||
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"The Immigrant" is a 1975 single written by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody and performed by Sedaka. The single was the second release from his album, Sedaka's Back . "The Immigrant" was dedicated to John Lennon and the immigration problems that he faced. [1] The single peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent one week at number one on the Easy Listening chart in May 1975. [2]
Sedaka has referred to "The Immigrant" as his most controversial song and the only time he ever publicly waded into politics as a performer. [3] According to Philip Cody, the song's lyric writer, it was originally written as a tribute to his father, Anthony Feliciotto, who came to America from Sicily in 1930. Sedaka's parents had also emigrated, from Russia/Poland. Lennon responded favorably, stating that Sedaka and other songwriters in his Brooklyn neighborhood were among "the greatest songwriters in the world;" Sedaka joked that there must have been "something in the egg cream." [4]
Chart (1975) | Peak position |
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Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [5] | 3 |
Canada RPM Top Singles [6] | 9 |
New Zealand (RIANZ) [7] | 17 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [8] | 22 |
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening | 1 |
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 28 |