Haven't seen this anywhere else on Mudcat using Google's advanced search. Found the lyrics from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk but heard the song on an edition of Sing Out! Magazine years and years back when I was a kid. Looking back the assertion that slavery and child labour had been stopped feel a bit naive as much of the child labour has just been outsourced to other countries and the prison industrial complex in the USA is akin to modern slavery. Anyway, the song haunted me back then so here it is.


UNDER AMERICAN SKIES
As recorded by Tom Paxton and Anne Hills on "Under American Skies," 2001.

1. She was born dirt poor, grew up gangly and tall,
And the state gave her no real protection at all.
Her father'd get drunk and he'd beat her so bad,
And her mother wouldn't help; her man was all that she had.
At school, her teachers just closed their eyes
To the bruises on her arms, on her neck and her thighs.
She was learnin' that the world was bitter and cold.
She was only a child, but she was already old:
Family ties
Under American skies.

2. As she grew up, she learned to close down her heart.
She turned away from love; she wouldn't let love start.
When a man tried rape in the West Texas rain,
She left him dyin' and writhin' in pain.
Like a wounded animal she lashed out, mean,
Doin' what she'd learned, doin' what she'd seen,
But that kind of justice never heals the hurt,
And her tears mixed with blood on her raggedy shirt.
Anger cries
Under American skies.

CHORUS. When we ended slavery, we all went free.
When we stopped child labor, that was victory.
When the women started voting, true democracy,
But we still haven't got it and we can't let it be,
When we're part of a system, against it or willing,
And every last time that the state does the killing,
A part of us dies
Under American skies.

3. They caught her down by the Santa Fe tracks,
And the paper called her one of those drug maniacs.
The rapist was a member of society,
So she got no bail; she got her lawyer for free.
That court-appointed lawyer had a vacant smile.
He raised no objections, and he slept through the trial.
Just like her dad, he had booze on his breath.
The jury said, "Guilty" and the judge said "Death."
Pity flies
Under American skies.

4. They sent her to Huntsville; they sent her to hell.
They sent her up to Terrel to a locked-down cell.
She sat on her cot; a couple years crept by.
Her appeals ran out and she prepared to die.
Her final dress was just a hospital gown.
They put her on a gurney and they strapped her down,
Put needles in her arm under surgical tape,
And seven minutes later she had made her escape:
Sad goodbyes
Under American skies. CHORUS
Part of us dies
Under American skies.

D.L.