| La versione inglese di Dennis Criteser [2014]
|
BALLAD OF MIKE | THE BALLAD OF MIKE |
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They open'd wide the cell door | When they opened the cell |
but, alas! it was too late. | it was already late because |
With a rope 'round his neck | with a cord ‘round his neck |
Mike was hangin' so cold. | there hung Mike, all cold. |
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Anytime I hear a cock | Every time I hear a rooster |
crowin', I'm gonna think of | crowing, I’ll think |
that night in the county jail | of that night in prison |
when Mike went hanged himsel'. | when Mike hanged himself. |
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Tonite Mike went | Tonight Mike |
hanged himself to a nail in his cell | hanged himself from a nail because |
didn't want to stay twenty years in jail | he couldn't remain twenty years in prison |
without you. | far away from you. |
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So Mike in the dark | In the darkness Mike |
stretch'd his legs for he knew he could not | went off knowing |
tell you that he'd become a murderer | he could never tell you that he had murdered |
only 'cause of you | because he loved you. |
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I know that Mike | I know that Mike |
wanted to die, so that you | wanted to die so that |
keep the memory of the love true an' deep | the memory of the deep feeling he had for you |
he had for you. | would remain behind with you. |
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He was sentenced twenty years, | Twenty years they had given him. |
the judge and the court decided so | The court decided it so |
for one day he had bumped off | because one day he’d killed |
one who wanted to steal his Mary | someone who wanted to steal his Marie. |
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So he was sentenced this long term, | They had him condemned therefore, |
twenty years to rot in a cell, | twenty years in prison to rot away. |
but now that he went hanged himsel', | But now that he hanged himself |
well, they gonna open him the door | they have to open the door for him. |
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Well even if Mike | Even if Mike |
didn't write you a word to explain why | didn’t write you explaining why |
he passed away from this world, you know he did it | he left this world, you know that he did it |
only 'cause of you. | only for you. |
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Tomorrow at three o'clock | Tomorrow at three o’clock |
gonna lower Mike in a pauper's grave | he'll fall into the common grave, |
with no priest an' no mass, for a suicide | without a priest and the mass, because for a suicide |
is given no mercy. | they have no pity. |
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So tomorrow Mike | Tomorrow at three o'clock |
gonna be lower'd in the wet clay | he'll be in the wet ground |
an' someone a cross bearin' the name and date | and someone will plant a cross over him |
on his dead body will lay | with the name and the date. |
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An' someone a cross bearin' the name and date | And someone will plant a cross over him |
on his dead body will lay. | with the name and the date. |