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Rise up singing!
There is a union music group on the "old" UnionBook site, so I thought I'd start one here too. Discussion of singers and songs of struggle, solidarity, and social justice.
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IRISH UNION SONGS 2 Replies
OLD & NEW Songs very welcome!Continue
Started by Jim Cotter. Last reply by Martin Cahill Oct 6, 2010.
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Comment by Doug Taylor on September 4, 2011 at 7:30 -
Hi Viola. I like your revisionist verse for this classic....
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Comment by Viola Wilkins on September 4, 2011 at 0:58 -
They saw my card and taunted me--
" An 'I won't Work' and 'Red'".
But what I answered got their goat
And filled them full of dread.
"Freedom, solidarity--
That's what the card stands for.
The red is for the workers slain
In every capital war.
"I won't work on atom bombs,
Won't tear the forests down.
I will not dump your toxic waste,
Nor spread your poisons 'round.
"I will not ship your war machines
For use against the poor.
I'll stand with other workers and
We'll have no more of war.
"But I Will Work for workers' rights,
I'll work for liberty,
I'll work for safety on the job,
I'll set the workers free."
They took my card and tore it up.
They beat me 'til I bled.
They justified their brutal deed--
" You're dangerous" they said.
They've bruised me. And they've knocked me down.
They've mocked me with a grin.
They've laughed, but I'll be laughing last
'Cause one day I Will Win..
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Comment by Viola Wilkins on September 4, 2011 at 0:20
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UNION MAID
You women who want to be free
Just take a tip from me
Break out of that mould
We've all been sold
You've got a fighting Herstory
The fight for women's rights
With the workers must unite
Like Mother Jones
Bestir them bones
To the front of every fight!
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Comment by Doug Taylor on August 30, 2011 at 5:58
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Wasn't That A Time
Klbrisby's Channel
Isn't this a time!
A time to free the soul of man!
Isn't this a wonderful time!
Two founding members of The Weavers singing quartet, specifically Lee Hays and Pete Seeger, were interviewed by the Senate committee investigating potential Communists in this country.
In this scene, actual testimony is intercut with a performance of a song "Wasn't That a Time" which the investigators (ridiculously) thought demonstrated anti-American sentiments. Shawn P. Rohlf, Kat Fitzpatrick, Kent Brisby, and Steve Denyes (left-to-right) perform excerpt from a workshop staging of THE WEAVERS SONG, adapted by KL Brisby.
Mr. Brisby has authored more than a dozen produced plays and musicals, including the musical THE WEAVERS SONG, about blacklisted musical superstars of America in the 1940’s and 50’s.Read more HERE.
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Comment by Doug Taylor on August 25, 2011 at 22:57
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Comment by Doug Taylor on August 22, 2011 at 8:15
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Song and struggle: "Preacher and Slave"
Joe Hill was born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in 1879, in Sweden. Like many other impoverished Europeans, he immigrated to the USA and became a migrant laborer. He traveled the country from New York to San Francisco, taking work where he could find it. In 1910 he joined the radical syndicalist union IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World, nicknamed the Wobblies).
Hill was a talented singer and songwriter. He became a renowned troubadour of labor, and toured the country helping to organize workers. This was a dangerous endeavor that Hill ended up paying for with his life. In 1915, in Utah, he was framed for murder and executed.
The bosses hated the Wobblies, and intense battles for the hearts of workers were a regular occurrence.
These sometimes reached the level of physical fights for control of street corners between IWW agitators and the bosses' thugs. Other opponents were Christian organizations that sought to disarm the minds of the working people, particularly the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army targeted the IWW, preaching against them and sending their band to drown out IWW speakers.
For this reason, many of Hill's songs attack and mock religion, and especially the Salvation Army. At the same time, the words tended to be set to famous religious tunes.
Folk singer Pete Seeger explained:
"If the Salvation Army was preaching against them from one street corner, they might set up a soapbox on the opposite corner. When the Salvation Army band started up 'In the Sweet By and By,' Wobblies would use it to accompany their own singing of Joe Hill's parody, 'Pie in the Sky'.... "
"Preacher and Slave," which Seeger mistakenly refers to as "Pie in the Sky," is a good example of a Joe Hill religious parody. In it, he mocks the revival hymn "In the Sweet By and By," which encourages the downtrodden to be patient and docile in awaiting their heavenly reward, and he throws in a jab at the Salvation Army, calling them the "Starvation Army."
The song is also the origin of our phrase "pie in the sky" (meaning something fanciful or ludicrous).
Here are the lyrics:
"Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet"
Chorus:
"You will eat, by and by,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die
And the Starvation Army, they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin on the drum,
Then they tell you when you're on the bum"
Chorus:
"Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out
And they holler, they jump and they shout
Give your money to Jesus, they say,
He will cure all diseases today"
Chorus:
"If you fight hard for children and wife
Try to get something good in this life
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell"
Chorus:
"Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain"
Modified chorus:
"You will eat, by and by,
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry;
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
Then you'll eat in the sweet by and by"
Here are some additional links:
By folk singer U. Utah Phillips
Another version
A punk version
Photo: Joe Hill from Wikipedia
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Comment by Viola Wilkins on August 6, 2011 at 1:59
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Union through and through - CFMEU song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P38VM7IwCI&feature=player_embedded
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Comment by Brian Ross Ashley on August 2, 2011 at 1:44 -
Common Thread Chorus will be starting up our new season in about a month ... if you are in the Toronto area and want to sing, here we are (unfortunately we still have no room for more female voices, unless you are a low enough alto to sing tenor.)
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Comment by Viola Wilkins on August 2, 2011 at 1:31
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Patrick Dodd - Party Line I ain't voting for neither one of you http://ning.it/nKDh2s/
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Comment by Viola Wilkins on August 2, 2011 at 0:45
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