TWO GOOD ARMS by Charlie King-from notes in Sing out! 's Rise Up singing book: "At the height of the "Red Scare" in 1920, two Italian immigrant union activists in Boston were framed on murder charges, Nicola Sacco, and Bartolomeo Vanzettti were electrocuted in 1927 despite world=wide appeals on their behalf.
Who will remember the hands so white and fine
That touched the finest linen, that poured the finest wine,
Who will remember the genteel words they spoke
To name the lives or two good men a nuisance or a joke.
CHORUS: All who know these two good arms
Know I never had to rob or kill
I can live by my own two hands and live well
And all my life I have struggled to rid the earth of all such crimes
Who will remember Judge Webster Thayer
One hand on the gavel, the other resting on the chair
Who will remember the hateful words he said
Speaking to the living in the language of the dead
Chorus
Who will remember the hand upon the switch,
That took the lives of two good men in the service of the rich
Who will remember the one who gave the nod,
Or the chaplain standing near at hand to invoke the name of God
Chorus
We will remember this good shoemaker
We will remember this poor fish peddler
We will remember all the strong arms and hands
That never once found justice in the hands that rule this land
Last chorus-
And all who knew these two good men Knew they never had to rob or kill
Each had lived by his own two hands and they had lived well
And all their lives they had struggled to rid the earth of all such crimes
And all our lives we must struggle to rid the earth of all such crimes