Nicolo Sacco and Bartolo Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants who rose to prominence in the American Trade Union Movement in the twenties. Eventually they were charged with murder and robbery (according to recent scholarship almost certainly framed), kept them on 'Death Row' for seven years, and despite world wide protests, executed. Sacco wrote a letter to his son Dante on the eve of his execution, and Pete Seeger transposed it into this song. According to Seegar "By omitting a word here and there, or adding one, I found I could make it scan, if not rhyme. I recorded it..., and it was added to a record of Woody [Gutherie’s] about the Sacco-Vanzetti case."
Sacco’s Last Letter to His Son
If nothing happens
They will electrocute us right after midnight
Therefore here I am, right with you
With love and with open heart
As I was yesterday
Don't cry Dante
For many many tears have been wasted
As your mother's tears have been already wasted
For seven years
And never did any good
So son, instead of crying
Be strong, be brave
So as to be able to comfort your mother
And when you want
To distract her from the discouraging soleness
You take her for a long walk
In the quiet countryside
Gathering flowers here and there
And resting under the shade of trees
Beside the music of the waters
The peacefulness of nature
She will enjoy it very much
And you will surely too
But son you must remember
Don't use all yourself
But down yourself just one step
To help the weak ones at your side
The weaker ones that cry for help
The persecuted and the victims
They are your friends - friends of yours and mineThey are the comrades that fight
Yes and sometimes fall
Just as your father
Your father and Bartolo have fallen
Have fought and fell
Yesterday, for the conquest of joy
Of freedom for all
In the struggle of life you'll find
You'll find more love
And in the struggle you will be loved also
A wonderful version of this song has been recorded by the folk duo "Magpie." Postscript: for many years public school teachers were forbidden to read or present this poem because, well, as union activists it Sacco and Vanzetti were thought to be communists.