Base oppressors, cease your slumbers
Listen to a people's cry.
Hark, uncounted, countless numbers
Swell the peal of agony.
Lo, for labor's sons and daughters
In the depths of misery,
Like the rush of many waters
Comes the cry "We will be free".
By our own, our children's charter,
By the fire within our veins,
By each truth-attesting martyr,
By our tears, our groans, our pains,
By our rights, by nature given,
By the laws of liberty,
We declare before high heaven
That we must, we will be free.
Tyrants quail! The dawn is breaking,
Dawn of freedom's glorious day.
Despots on their thrones are shaking,
Iron hands are giving way.
Kingcraft, statecraft, base oppression
Cannot bear our scrutiny.
We have learned the startling lesson,
If we will, we can be free.
Winds and waves the tidings carry,
Electra in your fiery car
Winged by light'ning, do not tarry,
Bear the news to lands afar.
Bid them tell the thrilling story
Louder than the thunder's glee
That a people, ripe for glory,
Are determined to be free.
Listen to a people's cry.
Hark, uncounted, countless numbers
Swell the peal of agony.
Lo, for labor's sons and daughters
In the depths of misery,
Like the rush of many waters
Comes the cry "We will be free".
By our own, our children's charter,
By the fire within our veins,
By each truth-attesting martyr,
By our tears, our groans, our pains,
By our rights, by nature given,
By the laws of liberty,
We declare before high heaven
That we must, we will be free.
Tyrants quail! The dawn is breaking,
Dawn of freedom's glorious day.
Despots on their thrones are shaking,
Iron hands are giving way.
Kingcraft, statecraft, base oppression
Cannot bear our scrutiny.
We have learned the startling lesson,
If we will, we can be free.
Winds and waves the tidings carry,
Electra in your fiery car
Winged by light'ning, do not tarry,
Bear the news to lands afar.
Bid them tell the thrilling story
Louder than the thunder's glee
That a people, ripe for glory,
Are determined to be free.
Contributed by Dead End - 2012/9/26 - 15:16
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Testo trovato su “American Folksongs of Protest” di John Greenway, 1953.
Inno del più grande ed importante sindacato dei lavoratori americani della fine dell’800, il “Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor” o più semplicemente, “Knights of Labor”. La sua parabola si esaurì nel giro di soli 30 anni, anche in seguito al fallimento di alcuni importanti scioperi, ma negli anni 80 potè contare su di un numero molto consistente di associati, quasi 800.000.