1913 Massacre
Arlo Guthrie Lyrics

Take a trip with me in nineteen thirteen
Let's take a journey back in time to 1913

To Calumet, Michigan in the copper country
Specifically, we're headed to Calumet, Michigan, known for its copper mining

I'll take you to a place called Italian Hall
Our destination is a building known as Italian Hall

And the miners are having their big Christmas ball
Where the miners are gathered for their annual Christmas celebration

I'll take you in a door and up a high stairs
We'll enter through a door and climb up a flight of stairs

Singing and dancing is heard everywhere
We'll hear the sound of singing and dancing filling the air

I'll let you shake hands with the people you see
We'll have the opportunity to meet and greet the revelers

And watch the kids dance 'round the big Christmas tree.
As we observe the kids joyfully dancing around the Christmas tree

There's talking and laughing and songs in the air
The atmosphere is filled with joy, laughter, and music

And the spirit of Christmas is there everywhere
The essence of Christmas is present in the room

Before you know it you're friends with us all
We'll quickly become friends with the attendees

And you're dancing around and around in the hall
Soon, we'll be dancing along with the rest of the crowd

You ask about work and you ask about pay
If we inquire about their work and remuneration,

They'll tell you they make less than a dollar a day
The miners will inform us that they earn less than a dollar per day

Working their copper claims, risking their lives
They brave various dangers to extract copper from the mines

So it's fun to spend Christmas with children and wives.
As a result, they cherish the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with their families

A little girl sits down by the Christmas tree lights
A young girl sits by the Christmas tree lights

To play the piano so you gotta keep quiet
She's playing the piano, so we'll have to be quiet

To hear all this fun; you would not realize
Amidst all the fun, it's easy to miss

That the copper boss thug men are milling outside
That the copper company's hired enforcers are loitering outside

The copper boss thugs stuck their heads in the door
Soon enough, the enforcers peek into the hall

One of them yelled and he screamed, "There's a fire"
One of them shouts, falsely claiming there's a fire

A lady she hollered, "There's no such a thing,
One attendee rebukes the claim, insisting there's no fire

Keep on with your party, there's no such a thing."
Urging everyone to keep dancing as there's nothing to worry about

A few people rushed and there's only a few
Despite this, some are scared and try to leave

"It's just the thugs and the scabs fooling you."
Others try to reassure them that it's only the hired enforcers causing trouble

A man grabbed his daughter and he carried her down
A father carries his daughter, attempting to escape with her

But the thugs held the door and he could not get out.
Unfortunately, the enforcers block their escape route

And then others followed, about a hundred or more
As the situation escalated, many others try to overpower the enforcers

But most everybody remained on the floor
Despite the chaos, many others remain on the dance floor

The gun thugs, they laughed at their murderous joke
The enforcers mock the trapped and helpless attendees

And the children were smothered on the stairs by the door.
Tragically, in the mayhem, many kids are suffocated near the exit

Such a terrible sight I never did see
The events of that night I witnessed were truly horrific

We carried our children back up to their tree
We had to carry the bodies of the deceased children back to the Christmas tree