Dreadful Memories

Aunt Molly Jackson

Originale

Versione risalente al 1938 scritta da Sarah Ogan Gunning.

DREADFUL MEMORIES Dreadful memories! How they linger, How they pain my precious soul! Little children, sick and hungry, Sick and hungry, weak and cold. Little children, cold and hungry, Without any food at all to eat; They had no clothes to put on their bodies, They had no shoes to put on their feet. Dreadful memories! How they linger, How they fill my heart with pain; Oh, how hard I've tried to forget them, But I find it all in vain. I can't forget them, little babies, With golden hair as soft as silk; Slowly dying from starvation, They parents could not give them milk. l can't forget them coal miners' children That starved to death for want of milk; While the coal operators and their wives and their children Were all dressed in jewels and silk. Dreadful memories! How they haunt me As the lonely moments fly; Oh, how them little babies suffered! l saw them starve to death and die.

DREADFUL MEMORIES Dreadful memories, how they linger, How they ever flood my soul. How the workers and their children Died from hunger and from cold. Hungry fathers, wearied mothers, Living in those dreadful shacks, Little children cold and hungry With no clothing on their backs. Dreadful gun thugs and stool pigeons Always flock around our door. What's the crime that we've committed? Nothing. only that we're poor. Oh, those memories, how they haunt me Make me want to organize Makes me want to help the workers Make them open up their eyes. When I think of all the heartaches And all the things that we've been through, Then I wonder how much longer And what a working man can do. Really, friends, it doesn't matter Whether you are black or white. The only way you'll ever change things Is to fight and fight and fight. We will have to join the union, They will help you find a way How to get a better living And for your work get better pay.