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Across the Ocean Wide

from Killing the Messenger by David Rovics

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Long before Pablo Neruda was a famous poet and supporter of the short-lived government of Salvador Allende that was overthrown in a CIA-backed military coup, he was the Chilean ambassador to France. In that role, in 1939 he organized a boatlift that saved thousands of Spanish lives.

lyrics

Across the ocean wide, where many ships have been
Where many long remember those passengers within
All of those whose families were buried or in jail
In the killing fields of Spain, when the Winnipeg set sail

Across the ocean wide, across the open seas
A world better than the camps the French authorities
Threw the people in, and if they lived to tell the tale
They’d be the lucky few, when the Winnipeg set sail

Across the ocean wide, the ship was met at bay
By the throngs of people who just had to come that day
In 1939, to cheer and cry and say all hail
Solidarity – when the Winnipeg set sail

Across the ocean wide was where they had to flee
The thousands upon thousands of Spanish refugees
From the lands of Europe, where humanity had failed
To the shores of Valparaiso, when the Winnipeg set sail

Across the ocean wide was where they would remain
As dictatorship would rule for half a century in Spain
Torpedoed in ’42, now it lies upon the shale
One voyage will outlive her – when the Winnipeg set sail

Across the ocean wide

credits

from Killing the Messenger, released March 19, 2023

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David Rovics Portland, Oregon

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), anarchist, dad, lover of life.

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