Christmas in Washington [Italian translation]

It’s Christmas time in Washington.1

The Democrats rehearsed,

gettin’ into gear for four more years;

things not gettin’ worse.

Republicans drank whiskey neat

and thanked their lucky stars,2

they said «He cannot seek another term,

there’ll be no more FDRs.»3

I sat home in Tennessee,

just staring at the screen,

an uneasy feeling in my chest,

wonderin’ what it means.

So come back, Woody Guthrie,4

come back to us now,

tear your eyes from paradise

and rise again somehow.

If you run into Jesus,

maybe he can help you out.

Come back, Woody Guthrie, to us now.

I followed in your footsteps once,

back in my travelin’ days;

somewhere I failed to find your trail,

now I’m stumblin’ through the haze.

But there’s killers on the highway now

and a man can’t get around,

so I sold my soul for wheels that roll

now I’m stuck here in this town.

Come back, Woody Guthrie,

come back to us now,

tear your eyes from paradise

and rise again somehow.

If you run into Jesus,

maybe he can help us out.

Come back, Woody Guthrie, to us now.

There’s foxes in the hen-house,

cows out in the corn,

the unions have been busted,

the proud red banners torn.

To listen to the radio,

you’d think that all was well,

but you and me and Cisco know5

’tis going straight to hell.

So come back, Emma Goldman,6

rise up, old Joe Hill.7

The barricades are goin’ up,

they cannot break our will.

Come back to us, Malcolm X,8

and Martin Luther King.9

We’re marching into Selma10

as the bells of freedom ring.

So come back, Woody Guthrie,

come back to us now,

tear your eyes from paradise

and rise again somehow.

1. Washington is the capital of the USA, where the Congress (the Parliament of the US) is.2. Democrats and Republicans are the two major political parties of the United States.

The stars are the symbol of the United States, appearing on their flag. They are also in the symbols of both the Democratic and the Republican parties.

The US presidential term is 4 years long.3. The Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was US President for four consecutive terms (but died during the last one).

This song was published in 1997, when the Democrat president Bill Clinton was running for his second term. He was eventually re-elected, though he could not equal Roosevelt, since in 1951 the Constitution was amended to introduce a maximum of two terms for a single person.4. Woody Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter who often discussed political and social issues in his songs. He died in 1967.5. Gilbert Vandine ‟Cisco” Houston was an American singer-songwriter who was friend with Woody Guthrie. He died in 1961.6. Emma Goldman was a Russian-born American anarchist and political activist. She died in 1940.7. Joe Hill was a Swedish-American trade unionist executed in 1915, for a crime he probably hadn’t committed. He was 36, so he was not that old, though he is ‟old” since he’s from old times.8. Malcolm X was an American human rights activist assassinated in 1965.9. Martin Luther King was an American civil rights activist assassinated in 1968.10. The Selma to Montgomery marches took place in 1965 in Alabama and aimed at granting voting rights to African-Americans.

• Artist:Steve Earle
• Album:El Corazón