Facing The Chair

I came to this land in 1908 (\"nineteen-O-eight\")

and I thought it the land of the free,

but I very soon saw the rich had one law

and another for people like me.

Well, times were depressed and the money was hard

and I peddled my fish by the sea,

where the pilgrims of old fleeing from persecution

landed and thought themselves free.

Ch.: Goodbye to you, my brave comrades,

goodbye to you, (Swassels?) lane,

goodbye to North Plymouth,

goodbye Boston Harbour,

I'll never see you again.

The department of justice was (rambling up) reds

and one day on the sidewalk below

Salsedo was found lying crushed on the ground

and they said he fell out of a high storey window.

And two payroll guards were shot down and killed

at the height of this anti-Red scare

and the (powers that be?) arrested Sacco and me

and now we are facing the chair.

Well, our jury, God help us, what chance did they have,

when the cruel judge called us low breed.

He was heard to declare: \"They should get the chair,

they're Reds and what more do you need?\"

And for 7 long years we languished in jail,

while appeals for a retrial were made,

and the Madeiros' confession it made no impression

on judge Webster Thayer's crusade.

No Well, a dog, that kills chicken you wouldn't convict

on the evidence, judge, that you've heard,

but you showed no concern while these two witches burn(ed)

for preaching the dangerous word.

And your governments, judge, differ only in (mean)

to victimise, trick, and repress.

And a change of error, and a change of evil

is taken by many as progress.

If these things hadn't happened we might have lived out our lives

conversing with scornful men,

we might have died alone, unmarked, unknown,

failures again and again.

But our death and our pain will not be in vain,

and your crimes they will never be (blurred).

Oh, what makes you think as you stand on the brink

that you'll always be ruling this world.

.