Mother Mary or Mother Jones?

NH Slim was listening to the Beatles on a classic rock station , grateful it was not some ‘80s metal hair band, when he remembered Eric Wolfe used to include at least one Beatles song in every puppet show he wrote.  Slim has no idea if Eric is still puppeteering, but he asked me to send this one Eric’s way just in case.

 

When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Jones begins to sing,

Mourn the dead but fight hard for the living.

And when it gets confusing her voice sounds to me clear as a bell

Fight hard for the living, fight like hell.

Fight like hell, fight like hell, fight like hell, fight like hell,

Mourn the dead and fight hard for the living.

When I find myself in times of conflict AJ Muste comes to say

There is no way to peace, peace is the way

When war and strife surround me and it gets worse each and every day

That’s when AJ says peace is the way.

Peace is the way, peace is the way, peace is the way, peace is the way

There is no way to peace, peace is the way.

Joe Hill and John L Lewis sometimes show up right before my eyes,

They have only one word, organize.

We’re in it for the long haul with our eyes set firmly on the prize

And there’s a way to get it, organize.

Organize, organize, organize, organize,

There’s a way to get it, organize.

And in my times of struggle Mahatma Gandhi calls out something strange

Means are ends and you must be the change.

Although it seems intuitive to work for what you want arranged,

There’s a better answer, be the change.

Be the change, be the change, be the change, be the change

Means are ends and you must be the change.

Read Full Post »

“Everybody Must Get Droned”

NH Slim was listening to NPR the other day and caught a story about the recent convention held in Las Vegas by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.  The story began:

“Drone makers and robotics manufacturers are looking for — and finding — new uses for devices that were once limited to the worlds of science and the military.”

If you think drones are being prepared for peaceful use, you might ask why Medea Benjamin of Code Pink and Father Louis Vitale of Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service were barred from attending even after they paid the registration fee.  

Anyway, Slim couldn’t resist the temptation to pen a song, based on a familiar tune.

 

They’ll drone you when you’re leaving from the bar,

They’ll drone you when you’re driving in your car,

They’ll drone you when you’re trying to be discrete,

They’ll drone you when you’re marching in the street.

Well I would not feel so all alone,

Everybody must get droned.

 

They’ll drone you when you’re maintaining law and order,

They’ll drone you when you’re getting near the border,

They’ll drone you when you’re sitting in the park,

They’ll drone you when it’s light and when it’s dark.  

Well I would not feel so all alone,

Everybody must get droned.

 

They’ll drone you when your minding your own business,

They’ll drone you when you’re improving your physical fitness,

They’ll drone you when you’re at a private luncheon,

They’ll drone you while performing a bodily function,

Well I would not feel so all alone,

Everybody must get droned.

 

They’ll drone you when you’re at a wedding party,

They’ll drone you if you’re early or you’re tardy,

They’ll drone you when you’re riding in the bus,

They’ll drone you if you’re them or if you’re us,

Well I would not feel so all alone,

Everybody must get droned.

- NH SLIM

Read Full Post »

“Which Side Are You On,” the Passover Version

Two months ago I posted NH Slim’s new version of “Which Side Are You On?,” adapted for the struggles at the New Hampshire State House.   Slim penned another version a few years ago for a Passover Seder.  It goes like this:

Come all of you good people,

And listen up to me

Of how the ancient Hebrews

Won their liberty.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

It was down on old Mitzraim

When Moses gave a cry:

“It’s time for an uprising.

We will live free or die.”

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

My mother was a baker,

And I’m a baker’s son,

And I’ll be with the Hebrews

“Til liberation’s won.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

My father was a brick-maker,

I’m a brick-maker’s daughter,

And I will march for freedom

Right through the Red Sea water.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

They say in old Mitzraim,

There are no neutrals there-o,

You either work for freedom

Or else you slave for Pharaoh.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

We all live in Mitzraim

‘Til everyone is free,

We’ll fight against the Pharaohs

And win our liberty.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

If you don’t know the tune, you can listen to Pete Seeger sing it or find an album of labor songs.  

And by the way, borrowing and adapting are part of the folk tradition, the Passover tradition, and the IWW tradition.  So write your own.  And let me know if you sing this at your Passover Seder.

Read Full Post »

Which Side Are You On? – Some New Words

 

Come gather fellow workers, I won’t detain you long

Please join me now in singing some new words to an old song

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

The Speaker and his cronies I wish that they’d confess

They do not care for rights or jobs, it’s right to work for less.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

When they use terms like “right to work” we know that they are lyin’

There’s nothing pow’rful as the truth that we’ll defeat O’Brien.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

We’re Democrats, Republicans and also Independents

We in it for our children, and also their descendants.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

We’re in it for the long haul, sincerely and most fully,

We won’t give up our human rights, we won’t cave in to bullies.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

The right to work committee came up here from Virginia,

Let’s send them home by singing with the power you’ve got in ya’.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

We know the labor movement was not built in a day

We built it strong, our mem’ry’s long, the union’s here to stay.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?  WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

Read Full Post »