Henry's Songbook

If nothing happens
They will electrocute us right after midnight
Therefore here I am, right with you
With love and with open heart
As I was yesterday

Don't cry Dante
For many many tears have been wasted
As your mother's tears have been already wasted
For seven years
And never did any good

So son, instead of crying
Be strong, be brave
So as to be able to comfort your mother

And when you want
To distract her from the discouraging soleness
You take her for a long walk
In the quiet countryside
Gathering flowers here and there

And resting under the shade of trees
Beside the music of the waters
The peacefulness of nature
She will enjoy it very much
And you will surely too

But son you must remember
Don't use all yourself
But down yourself just one step
To help the weak ones at your side

The weaker ones that cry for help
The persecuted and the victims
They are your friends - friends of yours and mine
They are the comrades that fight
Yes and sometimes fall

Just as your father
Your father and Bartolo have fallen
Have fought and fell
Yesterday, for the conquest of joy
Of freedom for all

In the struggle of life you'll find
You'll find more love
And in the struggle you will be loved also

[1993:] This song was written at the request of Moses Asch, head of Folkways Records. In 1950 he had paid Woody Guthrie a small stipend to go up to Massachusetts, do some investigating, and write songs about the famous Sacco-Vanzetti case. Two Italian anarchists were charged with murder, framed and executed in 1927. After Woody returned to New York Moe asked me, "Do you think you could put a tune to this? It's a letter from Nicola Sacco to his 12-year-old son." By omitting a word here and there, or adding one, I found I could make it scan, if not rhyme. I recorded it for Moe, and he added the song to the record of Woody's about the Sacco-Vanzetti case. Almost 30 years later a couple in Maryland, Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner, who sing as a duo called "Magpie", started singing it. I heard them rehearsing it at the People's Music Weekend one January. To my surprise and delight I realized what an Italian-type melody I'd put together; they sang it in two-part harmony [...]. (Seeger, Flowers 92f)

[1998:] Nicolo Sacco and Bartolo Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants who rose to prominence in the American Trade Union Movement in the twenties. The 'powers that be' framed them on a murder and robbery charge, kept them on 'Death Row' for seven years, and despite world wide protests, executed them after that period. Sacco wrote a letter to his son Dante on the eve of his execution, and Pete Seeger transposed it into this song. The letter is a classical example of how the soul can raise itself from the depths of despair and soar to unlimited heights. (Notes Danny Kyle, 'Heroes and Soft Targets')