[4] Sinatra, playing himself, takes a break from a recording session and steps outside to smoke a cigarette.

The song originally appeared in the musical revue Let Freedom Sing, which opened on Broadway on October 5, 1942.

In 1957, Meeropol adopted two boys, Michael and Robert, who had been orphaned when their parents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953.

[citation needed] The song was covered in later years by Paul Robeson,[7] Mahalia Jackson, and Josh White.

[citation needed] The song figures prominently in Arch Oboler's radio play The House I Live In, which aired on April 26, 1945.