The Immigrant (Neil Sedaka song)
The Immigrant is a 1975 pop song by Neil Sedaka, written with Phil Cody. It was the second single from the album Sedaka’s Back. The song, which Sedaka has called his most controversial, was dedicated to John Lennon and the immigration problems Lennon faced.
The track reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent one week at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart in May 1975. The lyric was originally written as a tribute to Cody’s father, Anthony Feliciotto, who came to America from Sicily in 1930; Sedaka’s parents had emigrated from Russia/Poland. Lennon responded positively, saying Sedaka and other Brooklyn songwriters were among the greatest in the world, and Sedaka joked about there being “something in the egg cream.”
The Immigrant was released as a 7" single in March 1975, with different B-sides in the US, UK, and Italy. It runs about 3 minutes and 43 seconds. Producers were Neil Sedaka and Robert Appère.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:34 (CET).