testo di Jacopo Bassi, traduzioni di Gianluca Canè
voci di Jacopo Bassi e Gianluca Canè

timeline ideata e realizzata da Alessandra MORACAS nell’ambito dell’insegnamento Storia digitale tenuto da Deborah Paci presso Ca’ Foscari Università Venezia

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Mark Hess (1954-), Failing Farms, «Time»: Volume 125, Numero 7 (18 Febbraio 1985), copertina. The Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC (© L’immagine appartiene ai rispettivi proprietari / Property of its respective owners)

Neil Young, This Old House [1985], in American Dream, 1988
testo di Neil Young

Midnight, that old clock keeps ticking, The kids are all asleep and I’m walking the floor. Darlin’ I can see that you’re dreaming, And I don’t wanna wake you up When I close the door. This old house of ours is built on dreams And a businessman don’t know what that means. There’s a garden outside she works in every day And tomorrow morning a man from the bank’s Gonna come and take it all away. Lately, I’ve been thinking ’bout daddy, And how he always made things work, when the chips were down, And I know I’ve got something inside me There’s always a light there to guide me To what can’t be found. This old house of ours is built on dreams And a businessman don’t know what that means. There’s a swing outside the kids play on every day And tomorrow morning a man from the bank’s Gonna come and take it all away. Take it all away, take it all away, take it all away. Take it all away, take it all away, take it all away. Remember how we first came here together? Standing on an empty lot, holding hands.

Later, we came back in the moonlight And made love right where the kitchen is, Then we made our plans. This old house of ours is built on dreams And a businessman don’t know what that means. There’s a garden outside she works in every day And tomorrow morning a man from the bank’s Gonna come and take it all away. Take it all away, take it all away, take it all away. Take it all away, take it all away, take it all away.

Neil Young, Are there any more real cowboys, in Old Ways, 1985
testo di Neil Young

Are there any more real cowboys Left out in these hills? Will the fire hit the iron One more time? And will one more dusty pick-up Coming rolling down the road With a load of feed before the sun gets high? Well, I hope that working cowboy never dies. Not the one that’s snortin’ cocaine When the honky-tonk’s all closed But the one that prays for more rain Heaven knows That the good feed brings the money And the money buys the clothes Not the diamond sequins shining on TV But the kind the working cowboy really needs. Are there any more

country families Still working hand in hand Trying hard to stay together And make a stand? While the rows and rows of houses Come creepin’ up on the land Where the cattle graze and an old grey barn still stands Are there any more real cowboys in this land? Are there any more real cowboys in this land?

John Cougar Mellencamp, Rain on the scarecrow, in Scarecrow, 1985
testo di John Mellencamp

Scarecrow on a wooden cross, blackbird in the barn Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm I grew up like my daddy did, my grandpa cleared this land When I was five, I walked a fence while grandpa held my hand Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow This land fed a nation, this land made me proud And son, I’m just sorry, there’s no legacy for you now Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow The crops we grew last summer weren’t enough to pay the loans Couldn’t buy the seed to plant this spring and the farmers bank foreclosed Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land He said, “John, it’s just my job and I hope you understand” Hey, calling it your job, ol’ hoss, sure don’t make it right But if you want me to I’ll say a prayer for your soul tonight And grandma’s on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand Sometimes I hear her singing, “Take me to the promised land” When you take away a man’s dignity he can’t work his fields and cows There’ll be blood on the scarecrow, blood on the plow

Blood on the scarecrow, blood on the plow Well there’s ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard And ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms I think about my grandpa, my neighbors and my name And some nights I feel like dyin’ like that scarecrow in the rain Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow This land fed a nation, yeah, this land made me proud And son, I’m just sorry, they’re just memories for you now Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow.

John Denver, Take Me Home, Country Roads, in Poems, Prayers and Promises, 1971
testo di John Denver, Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert

Almost heaven, West Virginia Blue ridge mountains, Shenandoah river Life is old there, older than the trees Younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain momma Take me home, country roads All my memories, they gather ’round her Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water Dark and dusty, painted on the sky Misty taste of moonshine, teardrops in my eyes Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain momma Take me home, country roads I hear her voice in the mornin’ hour she calls me The radio reminds me of my home far away And drivin’ down the road I get a feeling That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday Country roads, take me home

To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain momma Take me home, country roads Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, West Virginia, mountain momma, oh momma Take me home, country roads.

Bibliografia

• ATKINSON, Sue Ann, The farm crisis of the 1980s in Iowa: its roots and its inner workings, Thesis in Master Of Community And Regional Planning And Master Of Arts – Iowa State University, Ames, 1999.
• DUNCAN, Marvin, «Financing Agriculture in the 1980s», in Economic Review Kansas Reserve Bank Kansas City, 68, 7/1983, pp. 3-12.
• REAGAN, Ronald, The Reagan diaries, New York, Harper Collins, 2007.
• REEDY, Tyler C., Radicals in the Heartland: The farm crisis, immigration, and community organizing, Thesis in Master Of Arts – Iowa State University, Ames, 2013.
• SCHULTZ, Ann Marie, Iowa farmland ownership and tenure, 1982-1992: analysis and comparison, Thesis in Master Of Science – Iowa State University, Ames, 1994.
• STONE NICHOLSON, Stephen Paul, Agricultural land transfers in Iowa during the financial stress of the 1980s, Thesis in Master Of Science – Iowa State University, Ames, 1999.

Sitografia

• Farmaid, URL: < https://www.farmaid.org/ >.
• JOHNSON, R. T., «The 1985 farm crisis: what one hand giveth, the other taketh away», in The History Rat, URL: < https://historyrat.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/the-1985-farm-crisis-what-one-hand-giveth-the-other-taketh-away/ >.
• MANNING, Jason, «The Midwest Farm Crisis of the 1980s», in The Eighties Club. The Politics and Pop Culture of the 1980s, URL: < http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id395.htm >.

Timeline: la carriera di Ronald Reagan

a cura di Alessandra Moracas

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