The air is thick as silence, you can cut it with a knife
A man lies in the hospital, drainin' out his life
The trucks are on the back roads, in the dark their headlights shine
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line
Anger like a poison is eatin' at your soul
Your thoughts are loud as gunfire, your face is hard as coal
Bitterness like buckshot explodes inside your mind
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line
A miner's life is fragile, it can shatter just like ice
But those who bear the struggle have always paid the price
There's blood upon the contract like vinegar in wine
And there's one man dead on the Harlan County line
From the river bridge at Highsplint to the Brookside railroad track
You can feel a long strength building that can never be turned back
The dead go forward with us, not one is left behind
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line
The night is cold as iron, you can feel it in your bones
It settles like a shroud upon the grave of Lawrence Jones
The graveyard shift is walkin' from the bath house to the mine
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line.
A man lies in the hospital, drainin' out his life
The trucks are on the back roads, in the dark their headlights shine
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line
Anger like a poison is eatin' at your soul
Your thoughts are loud as gunfire, your face is hard as coal
Bitterness like buckshot explodes inside your mind
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line
A miner's life is fragile, it can shatter just like ice
But those who bear the struggle have always paid the price
There's blood upon the contract like vinegar in wine
And there's one man dead on the Harlan County line
From the river bridge at Highsplint to the Brookside railroad track
You can feel a long strength building that can never be turned back
The dead go forward with us, not one is left behind
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line
The night is cold as iron, you can feel it in your bones
It settles like a shroud upon the grave of Lawrence Jones
The graveyard shift is walkin' from the bath house to the mine
There's one man dead on the Harlan County line.
inviata da Bartleby - 10/5/2011 - 14:37
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Trovata su Raymond’s Folk Song Page
Bloody Harlan, 1973
Nell’estate del 1973 ad Harlan County nel Kentucky, in quella che fin dagli anni 30 era non a caso nota come “Bloody Harlan”, avvenne l’ultimo sanguinoso confronto tra i minatori e la Duke Power, proprietaria dei pozzi lì gestiti dalla Eastover Coal Company. I lavoratori si erano iscritti in massa alla United Mine Workers of America ma la compagnia non volle concludere il contratto con il sindacato e, anzi, come peraltro era stata sua abitudine nei decenni precedenti, pagò crumiri e organizzò squadre di vigilantes per continuare la produzione estromettendo i minatori sindacalizzati. Moltissimi furono gli episodi di violenza ed intimidazione, anche ai danni delle mogli e dei figli dei minatori in sciopero, presenti nei picchetti a sostegno dei loro famigliari: arresti, pestaggi, investimenti con auto, sparatorie, ferimenti e persino un morto, tal Lawrence Jones, ucciso da un crumiro…
Il braccio di ferro continuò fino a Natale del 1974 quando, di fronte ad oltre 120.000 minatori in sciopero, la compagnia scese a più miti consigli ed il contratto fu finalmente siglato.
Nel 1976, l'attivista e regista Barbara Kopple vinse l'Oscar per il miglior film documentario proprio con il suo splendido "Harlan County, USA" sulla lotta dei minatori contro la Duke Power Company...