This song is a song I wrote when I was in Italy and it is one part of a three-part song that was
written for the movie Sacco and Vanzetti. They were probably our most famous political prisoners
in this country who got the royal treatment so to speak. And all of the words are taken
from letters from Vanzetti.
Father, yes, I am a prisoner. Fear not to relay my crime.
The crime is loving the forsaken. Only silence is shame.
And I'll tell you what's against us, an art that's lived for centuries.
Go through the world and you will find what's blocking all of history.
Against us is the law with its immensity of strength and power.
Against us is the law. Police know how to make a man a guilty or an innocent.
Against us is the power of police.
The shameless lies that men have told will evermore be paid in gold.
Against us is the power of the gold.
Against us is the racial hatred and the simple fact that we're poor.
My father, dear, I am a prisoner. Don't be ashamed to tell my crime.
The crime of love and brotherhood. And only silence is shame.
With me I have my love, my innocence, the workers and the poor.
For all of this I'm safe and strong and hope is mine.
Rebellion, revolution, don't need dollars, they need this instead.
Imagination, suffering, light and love and care for every human being.
You never steal, you never kill, you are a part of hope and life.
The revolution goes from man to man and heart to heart.
And I sense when I look at the stars that we are children of life.
Death is small.