Joan Baez - The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti

Joan Baez performed this song for the 1971 film Sacco and Vanzetti.
The pictures and drawings (namely by Ben Shahn and William Groper) are taken from publications of the time of the case.

Father, yes I am a prisoner;
Fear not to relay my crime.
The crime is loving the forsaken,
Only silence is shame.

And now I'll tell you what's against us,
An art that's lived for centuries...
Go through the world and you will find
What's blackened all of history.
Against us is the law with its
Immensity of strength and power
- Against us is the law!
Police know how to make a man
A guilty or an innocent.
- Against us is the power of police!
The shameless lies that men have told
Will ever more be paid in gold...
- Against us is the power of the gold!
Against us is the racial hatred
And the simple fact that we're poor.

My father dear, I am a prisoner.
Don't be ashamed to tell my crime,
The crime of love and brotherhood;
And only silence is shame.

With me I have my love, my innocence,
The workers and the poor
For all of this I'm safe and strong
And hope is mine!
Rebellion, revolution don't need dollars,
They need this instead :
Imagination, suffering, light and love
And care for every human being!
You never steal, you never kill,
You are a part of hope and life.
The revolution goes from man to man
And heart to heart!
And I sense when I look at the stars
That we are children of life;
Death is small...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Joan
• Baez
• Ballad
• Sacco
• Vanzetti
• part
• two
• Ennio
• Morricone
• Prisoner
• death
• penalty
• anarchy
• Protest
• Song

[taddyd1]

thank you goldenAppleheartedmoon!

the best version by far; none of that corny morricone arrangemnt to detract from the heartrending lyrics and achingly pure soprano.

[Appleheartedmoon]

You're very welcome! I also find it the best version. So incredibly moving...

Peace!

[GastO1]

R.I.P.  Against Capitalism!

[OneEyedJack1982]

Itally's not only Berlusconi's people... Italians are also people like Sacco & Vanzetti killed for their ideas

[TiuDindia]

sei sempre una figa...onore - guerra a chi fa il maiale...vi stiamo vendicando

[SuperFlyTyler]

Within the beauty of their words there is a beautiful philosophy. Look up anarcho-communism to pay tribute to these men.

[PlatinFaber]

@OneEyedJack1982

Yes, We were and e we are a people attached to the beliefs and morals of the people. 100 between us, 1 we understand the deeper meaning in Italian thought and pushes the rest of the world. Those "1" are people who move movements of opinion,

and Nicola and Bartolomeo were martyrs of freedom of opinion.

In 100 of us, 1 remember these important commitments, just now remembered only by the rest of the world. This is the Italian real shame.

[lilibrailovs]

TENGO EL HONOR DE CONTAR CON LA AMISTAD DE GIAN-MARIA VOLNTÉ

[GeorgiaKev]

@GINGRRBRDGRL11 I never heard about that. I do know that Sacco & Vanzetti officially had their names cleared in 1977 by a proclamation of then-Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis (I guess it was like an "posthumous pardon"). But what's the deal with someone confessing on their deathbed? Also, how do we know that person was telling the truth?

[GINGRRBRDGRL11]

@GeorgiaKev Actually, we do know. They maintained their innocence to the end; then, few years ago, a man on his deathbed confessed to the killing for which they were executed.

[bradipous1]

they make me feel proud of belonging to the human kind

[GeorgiaKev]

Tragic case. We'll never know with certainty if Sacco & Vanzetti were guilty or innocent, however having studied the case, it is obvious the case against them was not strong. Eye-witnesses who were uncertain, and solid alibis ignored. There was way too much doubt to rightfully convict the two men under the U.S. legal system. But the resentment of anarchistic immigrants in the 1920s was at its peak. People just believed they must have done it. R.I.P. Sacco & Vanzetti.

[serpentsally]

It's so beautiful every time I hear it I tear up