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No Christmas In Kentucky

Phil Ochs
Language: English


Phil Ochs

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[1963]
Lyrics by Phil Ochs
Music: sung to the tune of "Wabash Cannonball"
Album: A Toast to Those Who Are Gone [1986]
A Toast to Those Who Are Gone


This song is part of a trilogy of songs Phil Ochs wrote in support of the striking miners in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, after travelling there in the early 1960s to perform for the strikers and meet their impoverished families. The other two are "Hazard, Kentucky" and "A Toast to Those Who Are Gone". Tom Paxton and Bob Dylan also travelled there during a particularly bitter miners' strike in Perry County in the 1960s.

The song, written in 1963, to a tune based on "Wabash Cannonball", is on his album "A Toast to Those Who Are Gone".
Christmas shoppers shoppin' on a neon city street,
Another Christmas dollar for another Christmas tree.
There's satin on the pretty dolls that make the children glow,
While a boy's walkin' ragged in the cold Kentucky snow...
No, they don't have Christmas in Kentucky;
There's no holly on a West Virginia door.
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry..
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor.
There's lots of toys for children when the Christmas time is near,
But the present for the miners is a stocking full of fear...
In the dark hills of Kentucky, there's one gift that may be found,
The coal dust of forgotten days that's lyin' on the ground.
No, they don't have Christmas in Kentucky;
There's no holly on a West Virginia door.
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry,
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor.
Let's drink a toast to Congress, and a toast to Santa Claus,
And a toast to all the speeches that ring the loud applause.
There's not enough to give, no, there's just not enough to share,
So drown the sounds of sorrow with a hearty Christmas cheer!
No, they don't have Christmas in Kentucky;
There's no holly on a West Virginia door.
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry,
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor.
Have a merry, merry Christmas, and a happy New Year's Day,
For now's the time of plenty, and plenty's here to stay.
But if you knew what Christmas was, I think that you would find
Christ was spending Christmas in the cold Kentucky mines.
No, they don't have Christmas in Kentucky;
There's no holly on a West Virginia door.
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry,
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor.

Contributed by giorgio - 2010/4/16 - 09:47



Language: Japanese

Traduzione giapponese di Paul Kim da Protest Songs in japanese
ケンタッキーにはクリスマスが来ない

ネオンきらめく街ではクリスマスのお買い物が真っ盛り
クリスマスの贈り物として次々とドル札が交わされる
人形を包むかわいいサテンの服が子供達を笑顔にする
その一方でボロをまとった少年が雪の中を歩いている

ケンタッキーにはクリスマスが無い
ウェスト・バージニアの入口にはヒイラギはない
空腹なときには木々はキラキラ輝かないから
貧しいときにはジングルベルも鳴り響かない

クリスマスが近づけばたくさんのおもちゃが並ぶ
でも鉱夫への贈り物はビールで一杯のソックス
ケンタッキーの暗い丘にはこんな贈り物が見つかるかも
それは大地に積もった忘れ去られた日々の炭塵さ

ケンタッキーにはクリスマスが無い
ウェスト・バージニアの入口にはヒイラギはない
空腹なときには木々はキラキラ輝かないから
貧しいときにはジングルベルも鳴り響かない

連邦議会に乾杯、サンタクロースに乾杯
大喝采を呼び起こす全ての演説に乾杯
与えるものも不十分で、分け合うものも不十分
だから心のこもったクリスマスのご馳走で悲しみを紛らそう

ケンタッキーにはクリスマスが無い
ウェスト・バージニアの入口にはヒイラギはない
空腹なときには木々はキラキラ輝かないから
貧しいときにはジングルベルも鳴り響かない

メリー・クリスマス、明けましておめでとう
今は豊かさのとき、豊かさがここにとどまる
でもクリスマスが何なのか知っていたら君は気づくだろう
キリストはケンタッキーの寒い炭鉱の中でクリスマスを過ごしているということを

ケンタッキーにはクリスマスが無い
ウェスト・バージニアの入口にはヒイラギはない
空腹なときには木々はキラキラ輝かないから
貧しいときにはジングルベルも鳴り響かない

Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2014/9/18 - 11:49




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