In Bocca Al Lupo - Wendy McNeill

The damp air carried the smell of musty cotton

And burning sugar

The red moon over the brackish dark water

Whispered danger

Oh, in bocca al lupo

Oh, crepi il lupo

La Merica won't you please, please won't you be

A place that loves music and the man that made me

These docks are a war zone, such ferocity

I wonder if we should have left dear Sicily

I am steel reeds, gaskets and kidskin gusset

I'm gleaming green

Set in Circassian walnut

He crafted me with love

And I am his best shot

At getting out of the shipyards

And starting his music shop

Oh, in bocca al lupo

Oh, crepi il lupo

His eyes grew nervous, his touch grew rough

I think it troubled him that no one liked our melodies much

The French swore for waltzes, the Irish jigs and reels

A choppy sort of fusion was demanded by the Creoles

He was such a brave man with eyes of amber

Thick black hair and a barrel chested swagger

But sfortunato was his hand

Even the best accordion can't save an unlucky man

La Merica won't you please, please won't you be

A place that loves music and the man that made me

These docks are a war zone, such ferocity

I wish that we had never left dear Sicily

Have you ever had to say goodbye from a distance

Knowing it was forever in one sharp instant

I slid out of his arms and crashed to the floor

As the cops burst through the party

And tore the men through the back door

Three hundred Italians were rounded up that day

As an officer was shot and an accusation was made

Some were tried, then acquitted

But a mob still insisted it was them that did it

They broke into the prison shouting "someone will pay!"

My sweet maker was among the innocent lynched that day

Oh, in bocca al lupo

Oh, crepi il lupo

La Merica won't you please, please won't you be

A place that loves music and the man that made me

These docks are a war zone, such ferocity

I wish that we had never left dear Sicily

La Merica won't you please, please won't you be

A place that loves music and the man that made me

These docks are a war zone, such ferocity

Crepi il lupo