Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea.
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
What were their names, tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James
Well, a hundred men went down in that dark watery grave
When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved.
'Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four
From the cold ocean waters and the cold icy shore.
It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.
Now tonight there are lights in our country so bright
In the farms and in the cities they're telling of the fight.
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main
And remember the name of that good Reuben James.
Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea.
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
What were their names, tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James
Well, a hundred men went down in that dark watery grave
When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved.
'Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four
From the cold ocean waters and the cold icy shore.
It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.
Now tonight there are lights in our country so bright
In the farms and in the cities they're telling of the fight.
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main
And remember the name of that good Reuben James.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2014/5/12 - 11:44
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Parole e musica di Woody Guthrie, con Millard Lampell.
La prima incisione è degli Almanac Singers (Bess Hawes, Pete Seeger, Millard Lampell, Woody Guthrie, Arthur Stern, Sis Cunningham) nel disco intitolato Dear Mr. President registrato nel febbraio del 1942.
Questa canzone invece provo a proporla come CCG a tutti gli effetti perchè, pur essendo tratta dal disco interventista “Dear Mr. President”, non è “patriottarda”, piuttosto sgomenta, di fronte ad uno degli episodi che accelerarono l’intervento degli USA nella guerra in Europa, prima ancora però dell’attacco giapponese a Pearl Harbor.
A partire dal marzo del 1941 gli Stati Uniti cominciarono a preoccuparsi seriamente di quel che stava accadendo nel cuore dell’Europa e anche in Manciuria e nel Pacifico. Roosevelt si convinse di dover aiutare pesantemente chi combatteva contro Germania e Giappone. 50 miliardi di dollari di aiuti vennero stanziati, per il 60% destinati al Regno Unito ma anche all’Unione Sovietica, alla Cina e alla Francia (in ordine di entità).
La “USS Reuben James” era un pattugliatore da guerra classe 1919 che nell’ottobre del 1941 si trovava di scorta ad un convoglio commerciale statunitense (in realtà il carico era di armi e munizioni), destinazione Liverpool. Appena uscito da una base navale nella colonia britannica di Newfoundland, Canada, il convoglio fu intercettato da un branco di sommergibili tedeschi posizionati lungo la rotta per impedire i rifornimenti. All’alba del 31 ottobre 1941 la Reuben James fu silurata dall’U-Boot 552 del comandante tedesco Erich Topp. Nell’affondamento persero la vita più di 100 marinai. L’episodio aprì finalmente e tragicamente gli occhi alla sgomenta opinione pubblica americana: di nuovo in guerra, di nuovo lontano da casa.