Carlo Tresca

Soundcloud. My song in honor of the IWW organizer, anarchist, antifascist, and journalist Carlo Tresca, who was assassinated either by the mafia, the fascists, or the Stalinists for his work. 

​D F#m A G D
The light of dawn, over the ocean, from red into gold is shifting
Bm F#m G D A
The thousand tongues of the nations, like birds on the breeze are lifting-
D G D G A D
And I listen for an old friend’s voice, where the harbor wakes with the dawn
Bm F#m G D A
The city’s songs washes over us- Carlo, where have you gone?


How many nights did you sit and write, setting alarm bells pealing?
And you held your pen like a chisel then, cutting lies and the truth revealing
And the state fell back from your flag of black, like a monster the sun exposes
When we rose in song you made our voices strong, calling out for bread and roses


When the tyrants stole, the yearnings of our soul, and their boots had us trampled under-
Then to cast them out, you taught us to shout, our rage bursting forth like thunder
In the dark of night, in a flash of light, the bullet silenced your mind
for your enemies were all numbered in, the butchers of humankind


And the sharp refrain of the whistling train, set the wheels of the world back turning-
And the light is drawn to someone other dawn- now the sun sets the skyline burning
And I listen for, an old friend’s voice, and I hear him echoed everywhere
In each hopeful word, that like singing birds, raise our voices to conquer despair