Vanzetti's Letter

from Long Time Gone by Jack Warshaw

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Seldom performed never recorded since Woody Guthrie himself, I count this among Woody's best crafted songs, up there with "This Land is Your Land,” and "Plane Crash at Los Gatos." In 1951 Moe Asch, founder of Folkways Records commissioned Woody to tell the story of Italian anarchists Nicolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in song. Vanzetti's beautiful English prose, written from his death cell, lent itself superbly to adaptation as lyrics.

lyrics

The year is 1927 and the day is the third day of May
The town is a city called Boston, Our address the dark Dedham Jail

To His Honor the Governor Fuller To the Council of Massachusetts State
We Bartolomo Vanzetti and Nicolo Sacco to say

Confined to our cells here at Dedham, and under the sentence of death
We pray you to exercise your powers, and look a the facts of our case

We do not ask you for a pardon, for a pardon would admit of our guilt
Since we are both innocent workers we have no guilt to admit

We believe sir that each human being, is in close touch with all of mankind
We believe, Sir that each human being knows the right from the wrong in his mind

We talk to you here as a man Sir, even knowin’ our opinions divide
We did not kill the guards at South Braintree, or dream such a terrible crime

If we was those killers dear Governor, we’d not be so dumb or so blind
To pass out our handbills and make workers speeches out here by the scene of the crime

Those fifteen thousands of dollars, the lawyers and cops say we took
Do we Sir dress up like two gentlemen with that much in our pocket book (break)

Our names are on the long list of radicals of the Federal Government Sir
They said that we needed watchin’ as we peddled our literature

Judge Thayer’s mind was made up Sir, when we walked into the court
He called us anarchistic bastards and said lots of other things worse

Now the officers said we feared something that they called the consciousness of guilt
We was afraid of wrecking more homes and seeing more workers blood spilt

And the very first questions they asked us was not about killin’ the clerks
But things about our Labor Movement and how our trade union works

Oh how could the jury see clearly when the lawyers and judges and cops
Called us low type Italians, said we looked just like regular waps

Draft dodgers anarchists, gun packers, them vulgar sounding names
Blew dust in the eyes of the jurors, the crowd in the courtroom the same (break)

Well this fight Sir is not a new battle, we did not makeit last night
Was fought by Prudon and Shelley, Piscane, Tolstoy and Christ

It’s bigger than the atoms, the sands of the desert, the planets that roll in the sky
Till workers get rid of their robbers, well it’s worse Sir to live than to die

Now if you shake your head NO, dear Governor, of course our doom it is sealed
We’ll hold up our heads like two sons of men, seven years in these cells of steel

We’ll walk down this corridor to death Sir, like workers have walked it before
But we’ll work in our working class struggle if we live a thousand lives more.

credits

from Long Time Gone, released March 29, 2015
Jack- vocal, guitar; Sandra, guitar

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Jack Warshaw UK

Veteran of the 1960s folk revival, he passionately believes, writes and sings with authenticity and respect for traditional American styles and song carriers. He has met, learned from or worked with such legends as Pete, Mike and Peggy Seeger, Tom Paley, Ewan MacColl, Bob Dylan, Mississippi John Hurt, Clarence Ashley, Dave Van Ronk, Stuart Burns and many others. Watch Youtube. Bio on Wikipedia ... more

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