woody guthrie - Vanzetti's Letter
[ti:Vanzetti's Letter]
[ar:Woody Guthrie]
[al:Hunting For Good]
[by:]
[offset:0]
[00:00.00]Vanzetti's Letter - Woody Guthrie (伍迪·格思里)
[00:01.48]Written by:Woody Guthrie
[00:02.97]The year it is 1927
[00:06.93]An' the day is the third day of may
[00:11.21]Town is the city called Boston an' our address this dark Dedham jail
[00:18.41]To your honor
[00:19.63]The Governor Fuller to the council of Massachussetts state
[00:26.27]We Bartolomo Vanzetti an' Nicola Sacco do say
[00:34.08]Confined to our jail here at Dedham an' under the sentence of death
[00:41.11]We pray you do exercise your powers an' look at the facts of our case
[00:48.12]We do not ask you for a pardon
[00:51.45]For a pardon would admit of our guilt
[00:55.18]Since we are both innocent workers we have no guilt to admit
[01:02.06]We are both born by parents in Italy can't speak English too well
[01:09.37]Our friends of labor are writin' these words back of the barsin our cell
[01:17.08]Our friends say if we speak too plain sir we may turn your feelings away
[01:24.32]Widen these canyons between us but we risk our life to talk plain
[01:31.69]We think sir that each human bein' is in
[01:35.41]Close touch with all of man's kind
[01:38.32]We think sir that each human bein' knows right from the wrong in his mind
[01:46.33]We talk to you here as a man sir even knowing our opinions divide
[01:53.03]We didn't kill the guards at South Braintree nor dream of such a terrible crime
[02:00.87]We call your eye to this fact sir
[02:03.94]We work with our hand and our brain
[02:07.40]These robberies an' killings were done sir by professional bandit men
[02:14.49]Sacco has been a good cutter Mrs Sacco their money has saved
[02:21.23]I Vanzetti l could have saved money but I gave it as fast as received
[02:28.46]I'm a dreamer a speaker an' a writer I fight on the working folks' side
[02:35.46]Sacco is Boston's fastest shoe trimmer and he talks to the husbands and wives
[02:41.62]We hunted your land and we found it hoped we'd find freedom of mind
[02:48.66]Built up your land
[02:50.08]This land of the free an' this is what we come to find
[02:55.08]If we was those killers good Governor we'd not be so dumb and so blind
[03:01.76]To pass out our handbills
[03:03.39]And make workers' speeches out here by the scene of the crime
[03:08.83]Those fifteen thousands of dollars the lawyers and judge said we took
[03:15.33]Do we sir dress up like two gentlemen with that much in our pocketbook
[03:21.65]Our names are on the long list of radicals of the Federal Government sir
[03:28.33]They said that we needed watching as we peddled our literature
[03:34.56]Judge Thayer's mind's made up sir when we walked into the court
[03:40.93]Well he called us anarchistic bastards said lots of other things worse
[03:49.36]They brought people down there to Brockton to look through the bars of our cell
[03:56.77]Made us act out the motions of the killers
[03:59.79]And still not so many could tell
[04:04.09]Before the trial ever started the jury foreman did say
[04:10.90]An' he cussed us an' said damn they well they'd ought to hang anyway
[04:18.35]Our fatal mistake was carryin' our guns about which we had to tell lies
[04:25.17]To keep the police from raiding the homes of workers believing like us
[04:32.49]A labor paper or a picture a letter from a radical friend
[04:39.36]An old cheap gun like you keep around home would torture good women and men
[04:45.85]We all feared deporting and whipping torments to make us confess
[04:52.32]The place where the workers are meeting the house your name and address
[04:59.57]Well the officers said we feared something which they called a consciousness of guilt
[05:06.88]We was afraid of wreckin' more homes and seein' more workers' blood spilt
[05:13.87]Well the very first question they asked us was not about killing the clerks
[05:20.22]But things about our labor movement and how our trade union works
[05:27.39]Oh how could our jury see clearly when the lawyers and judges and cops
[05:34.03]Called us low type Italians said we looked just like regular wops
[05:40.88]Draft dodgers gun packers anarchists these vulgar sounding names
[05:47.41]Blew dust in the eyes of jurors the crowd in the courtroom the same
[05:53.90]We do not believe sir that torture beatings and killings and pains
[06:00.57]Will lift man's eyes to a highest of view an' break his bilbos and chains
[06:07.53]We believe that you must struggle for freedom before your freedom you'll gain
[06:14.25]Freedom from fear sir and greed sir and your freedom to think higher things
[06:21.20]This fight sir is not a new battle we did not make it last night
[06:27.64]'Twas fought by God win Shelly Pisacane Tolstoy and Christ
[06:33.82]It's bigger than the atoms
[06:35.23]An' the sands of the desert planets that roll in the sky
[06:40.32]Till workers get rid of their robbers well
[06:43.33]It's worse sir to live than to die
[06:46.44]Your excellency we're not askin' pardon but askin' to be set free
[06:52.55]With liberty and pride sir and honor and a pardon we will not receive
[06:59.65]A pardon you given to criminals who've broken the laws of the land
[07:06.04]We don't ask you for pardon sir because we are innocent men
[07:13.14]Well if you shake your head
[07:14.77]No dear Governor of course our doom it is sealed
[07:19.77]We hold up our heads like two sons of men
[07:22.64]Seven years in these cells of steel
[07:26.78]We walk down this corridor to death sir like workers have walked it before
[07:33.18]But we'll work in our working class struggle if we live a thousand lives more