The 1913 Massacre

Woody Guthrie

Originale	Versione italiana / Italian version / Version italienne / Italiankielinen...
THE 1913 MASSACRE	MASSACRO
Take a trip with me in nineteen thirteen	Vi porto in un viaggio venite con me
To Calumet, Michigan, in the copper country	Nel posto del rame laggiù a Calumet
I'll take you to a place called Italian Hall	Vi condurrò in un posto speciale
Where the miners are having their big Christmas ball	Là i minatori festeggiano insieme il Natale
I'll take you through a door, and up a high stairs	Questa atmosfera vedrete vi incanta
Singing and dancing is heard everywhere	Sentite anche voi che si balla e si canta
I will let you shake hands with the people you see	Stringete le mani a tutti i presenti
And watch the kids dance round that big Christmas tree	Guardate i bambini son belli felici e contenti
You ask about work and you ask about pay	Se gli chiedete del loro lavoro
They'll tell you that they make less than a dollar a day	Risponderanno come in un coro
Working the copper claims, risking their lives	Un dollaro al giorno rischiando la vita
So it's fun to spend Christmas with children and wives	Ma oggi è Natale che sia una festa fiorita
There's talking and laughing and songs in the air	Si parla e si ride canzoni nell’aria
And the spirit of Christmas is there everywhere	Nessuna questione sia oggi contraria
Before you know it, you're friends with us all	Ora anche voi siete amici di tutti
And you're dancing around and around in the hall	Ballate e scacciate anche i pensieri più brutti
Well, a little girl sits down by the Christmas tree lights	Una ragazza si è seduta al piano
To play the piano, so you gotta keep quiet	Canta canzoni che vanno lontano
To hear all this fun you would not realize	Mentre ascoltate non vi accorgete
That the copper-boss thug-men are milling outside	Che degli scagnozzi sanno tessendo la rete
The copper-boss thugs stuck their heads in the door	Entrano dentro e cominciano a urlare:
One of them yelled and he screamed, "There's a fire!"	E’ scoppiato un incendio dovete fuggire!
A lady, she hollered, "There's no such a thing!	Una donna gridò: non è vero niente
Keep on with your party, there's no such a thing"	continuate la festa amici miei mia cara gente
A few people rushed, and it was only a few	Ci fu un gran trambusto qualcuno piangeva
"It's only the thugs and the scabs fooling you"	Son quegli scagnozzi! Un altro gridava
A man grabbed his daughter and carried her down	Un uomo col figlio voleva fuggire
But the thugs held the door and he could not get out	Le porte sprangate era vietato scappare
And then others followed, a hundred or more	Gran confusione un po’ dappertutto
But most everybody remained on the floor	Nell’aria soltanto odore di lutto
The gun-thugs they laughed at their murderous joke	Loro ridevano quei criminali
While the children were smothered on the stair by the door	Bambini per terra momenti davvero infernali
Such a terrible sight I never did see	Non ho mai visto una cosa così
We carried our children back up to their tree	Quei piccoli corpi distesi lì
The scabs outside still laughed at their spree	Fuori ridevano ancora i lacchè
And the children that died there were seventy-three	I bimbi per terra erano settantatré
The piano played a slow funeral tune	Tutta la festa finì in funerale
And the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon	Anche la luna piangeva il Natale
The parents they cried and the miners they moaned	Tutti piangevano in quel giorno amaro
"See what your greed for money has done"	Godete vigliacchi vi affoghi il vostro denaro