[1983]
Lyrics and Music by Bob Dylan
Testo e musica di Bob Dylan
Outtake di "Infidels"

Lyrics as recorded by Bob Dylan, The Power Station, New York, NY, 11 Apr-8 May 1983
© 1983
Transcribed by Manfred Helfert

Julius Rosenberg and his wife were listening to the Lone Ranger with their two young sons when a stranger rapped on the door of their battered and drab apartment near the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge. Twelve men filed in from the small hallway and announced that they were from the FBI. They arrested 32-year-old Julius Rosenberg as a spy.
A puffy, spectacled native New Yorker with a smudge-sized mustache and disappearing black hair, Rosenberg was the fourth U.S. citizen arrested in the atomic spy roundup that began after the arrest of British Physicist Klaus Fuchs. The FBI said Rosenberg had been an important cog in the machinery, working directly under Anatoli Yakovlev,... (continuer)

[1940]
Lyrics as reprinted in Pete Seeger (ed.), Woody Guthrie Folk Songs, London, 1973, pp. 237-238.
© 1963 Ludlow Music Inc., New York, NY

[1946]
Lyrics by Woody Guthrie
To the tune of The Great Dust Storm by the same
Sull'aria di The Great Dust Storm dello stesso Guthrie

"I wrote this ballad on the 16th day of August in the year 1946, one block from the wreckage of the Atlantic Ocean, on the beach at Coney Island, New York." -Woody Guthrie.

Or this one I made up so's you wouldn't be forgetting what happened to this famous Negro soldier less than three hours after he got his Honorable Discharge down in Atlanta....
(I sung this Isaac Woodard song in the Lewisohn Stadium one night for more than 36,000 people, and I got the loudest applause I've ever got in my whole life. This song is a long song, but most of the action is told in Isaac's own words. I made this ballad up because we'll need lots of songs like this one before we win our fight for racial equality in our big free United States.)
Woody Guthrie, as quoted in... (continuer)

[1942]
Testo di Agnes "Sis" Cunningham
Lyrics by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham

Sull'aria di The Danville Girl
To the tune of The Danville Girl

Sung to the tune of "Danville Girl," Cunningham's "Belt Line Girl" offered solace to all the "Rosie the Riveters" working in America's defense plants.

Lyrics as recorded by THE ALMANAC SINGERS, New York, NY, c. Feb 1942, and reprinted ibid., p. 104.
ORIGINAL ISSUE: "DEAR MR. PRESIDENT," Keynote K-305-B (KEYNOTE ALBUM 111), 1942.
[AGNES "SIS" CUNNINGHAM, solo vocal]

http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/344...

[1945]
Lyrics and music by Vern Partlow
Testo e musica di Vern Partlow

Probably the best known song to emerge from the Los Angeles office [of "People's Songs of California"] was Vern Partlow's Atomic Talking Blues or Old Man Atom. In 1958 Partlow recalled the song was inspired by a story assignment for The Los Angeles Daily News.
"I was assigned to interview various atomic scientists who visited the city to speak about the atom bomb ... I met with them and talked with them and I became a little alarmed, too. at what they were saying. And I agreed with them that something new had happened in the world -- something that would he with us a long time.
They said that if the atomic question were not settled amicably, the failure to do so might be heralded to the universe in the appearance of a bright new star. I think possibly they were right.
And so one evening I decided maybe there could... (continuer)

[1863]
Testo e musica di Stephen Collins Foster
Lyrics and music by Stephen Collins Foster

Canzone popolare della guerra civile americana (1860-1865). Interpretata, tra gli altri, nel 1928 dai Carolina Twins (Gwen Foster e Dave Fletcher), di cui rappresentò un cavallo di battaglia.

"Although [Gwen] Foster was widely recorded -- both on his own and as a member of several groups -- little of his history is known... After leaving the [CAROLINA] TAR HEELS, Foster recorded with... Dave Fletcher, one of the original members of the Four Yellowjackets. These were credited to 'Fletcher and Foster' -- Gennett, and 'The Carolina Twins' -- Victor...
Gwen Foster's importance lies not in some great ability to create original songs, but in his innovation and improvisation in dealing with basically traditional material, and his fine musicianship...
Another waltz from the Carolina Twins. Probably this one dates back top the American Civil War. The Song is interesting because Fletcher and Foster have added a yodel which would never have been present in more traditional versions."

http://members.fortunecity.com/folkfre...

[1927]
Testo di Jimmie Rodgers
Lyrics by Jimmie Rodgers
http://members.fortunecity.com/folkfre...

Sull'aria di Once I Had A Sweetheart
To the tune of Once I Had A Sweetheart
[==> Joan Baez Ballad Book, Vol. I]


© 1927 Peer International Corporation
Lyrics as reprinted in Dorothy Horstman, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, NY, 1976, p. 282-283

MRS. CARRIE RODGERS: "A pal of Jimmie's, Sammie Williams, told his sweetheart good-bye and went to France -- to be killed in action. So before the war was over, Jimmie found time to pick out words and air to his first composition, a sentimental song.... From the first his railroad buddies liked the song, and the young fellows in Meridian who were his boon companions liked it. With banjo, guitar, uke, they hung around the all-night places or strolled the streets playing and singing Jimmie's song along with 'Sweet Adeline' and other... (continuer)

[1916]
Testo di John F.Kendrick
Lyrics by John F.Kendrick

Sull'aria di Onward, Christian Soldier
To the tune of Onward, Christian Soldier

Pubblicata per la prima volta nel numero di marzo 1916 del "Little Red Songbook" degli International Workers of the World [IWW]

Testo ripreso da
Lyrics available at
http://members.fortunecity.com/folkfre...

[1915]
Testo e musica di Joseph Hillström [Joe Hill]
Lyrics and music by Joseph Hillström [Joe Hill]

[1860]
Testo e musica di George Frederick Root
Lyrics and Music by George Frederick Root

Una delle più note e commoventi canzoni della guerra civile americana, per la quale riprendo il testo da "History in Song":

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[1971]
Testo di Julian Wilson e James M.Smith
Lyrics by Julian Wilson and James M. Smith

Sull'aria di The Battle Hymn Of The Republic
To the tune of The Battle Hymn Of The Republic

Si veda anche Everybody's Got A Right To Live di Pete Seeger.

Una canzone che, forse, qualcuno potrà trovare sconcertante in questa raccolta; personalmente la trovo assolutamente rivoltante. Ma, in questo caso, è forse bene lasciarla a testimonianza di quale fosse l'atmosfera che esisteva negli Stati Uniti ai tempi della guerra nel Vietnam, dove anche un assassino come il tenente Calley poteva trovare giustificazione (al solito con il pretesto degli "ordini eseguiti"; un pretesto utilizzato costantemente, ad esempio dai nazisti colpevoli degli eccidi di civili durante la II guerra mondiale). Giustificazione che poteva spingere qualcuno anche a scrivere canzoni ributtanti come questa. Che lasciamo, qui, a... (continuer)

1989