2005 home recorded, lo-fi EP of IWW labor songs. Click here to download the entire album. Stream, download, & read lyrics to individual tracks below. |
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We meet today in freedom’s cause/And raise our voices high/We'll join our hands in union strong/To battle or to die/Hold the fort/For we are coming/Union men be strong/Side by side keep pressing onward/Victory will come/Look my comrades/See the union banners waving high/Reinforcements now appearing/Victory is nigh/Hold the fort/For we are coming/Union men be strong/Side by side keep pressing onward/Victory will come/See our numbers still increasing/Hear the bugles blow/By our union we shall triumph/Over every foe/Hold the for/For we are coming/Union men be strong/Side by side keep pressing onward/Victory will come/Fierce and long, the battle rages/But we will not fear/Help will come whenever needed/Cheer my comrades cheer/Hold the fort/For we are coming/Union workers be strong/Side by side keep pressing onward/Victory will come
Are you poor forlorn and hungry/Are there lots of things you lack/Is your life made up of misery/Then dump the bosses off your back/Are your clothes all torn and tattered/Are you living in a shack/Would you have your troubles scattered/Then dump the bosses off your back/Are you almost split asunder/Loaded like a long eared jack/Boob why don’t you buck like thunder/And dump the bosses off your back/All the agonies you suffer/you could end with one good whack/Stiffen up your angry duffer/And dump the bosses off your back
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/You will eat, bye and bye/In that glorious land up in the sky (way up high)/Work and pray, live on hay/You’ll get pie in the sky when you die (that’s a lie)/O the Starvation Army they play/And they sing and they clap and they pray/Til they’ve got all your coins on the drum/Then they’ll tell you when you’re on the bum/Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out/And the holler, they jump and they shout/“Give your money to Jesus” they say/And you will eat on that glorious day/Working folks 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 will sing this refrain/You will eat bye and bye/When you’ve learned how to cook and how to fry/Chop some wood, it’ll do you good/And you’ll eat in that sweet bye and bye (that’s no lie)
The workers on the S.P. line to strike sent out a call/But Casey Jones, the engineer, he wouldn't strike at all/His boiler it was leaking, and its driver's on the bum/And his engine and its bearings they were all out of plumb/Casey Jones kept his junk pile running/Casey Jones was working double time/Casey Jones got a wooden medal/For being good and faithful on the S.P. line/The workers said to Casey: "Won't you help us win this strike?"/But Casey said: "Let me alone, you'd better take a hike."/Then Casey's wheezy engine ran right off the worn-out track/And Casey hit the river with an awful crack/Casey Jones hit the river bottom/Casey Jones broke his blooming spine/Casey Jones turned into an angel/He took a trip to heaven on the S.P. line/When Casey Jones got up to heaven to the Pearly Gate/He said: "I'm Casey Jones, the guy that pulled the S.P. freight."/"You're just the man," said Peter, "our musicians are on strike/You can get a job a-scabbing any time you like."/Casey Jones got a job in heaven/Casey Jones was doing mighty fine/Casey Jones went scabbing on the angels/just like he did to workers on the S.P. line/The angels got together and they said it wasn't fair/For Casey Jones to go around a-scabbing everywhere/The Angel Union No. 23, they sure were there/And they promptly fired Casey down the Golden Stair/Casey Jones went to Hell a-flying/"Casey Jones," the Devil said, "Oh fine/Casey Jones, get busy shoveling sulfur/That's what you get for scabbing on the S.P. line."
Oh why don’t you work like other people do?/How the hell can I work when there’s no work to do/Hallelujah I’m a bum/Hallelujah bum again/Hallelujah give us a handout to revive us again/I went to a house, I knocked on the door/The lady said “Scram bum you’ve been here before”/Hallelujah I’m a bum/Hallelujah bum again/Hallelujah give us a handout to revive us again/I went to the bar and I asked for a drink/They gave me a cup and said there’s the sink/Hallelujah I’m a bum/Hallelujah bum again/Hallelujah give us a handout to revive us again/Oh I love my boss she’s a good friend of mine/That’s why I am starving out on the bread line/Hallelujah I’m a bum/Hallelujah bum again/Hallelujah give us a handout to revive us again/Oh why don’t you save all the money you earn?/If I didn’t eat I’d have money to burn/Hallelujah I’m a bum/Hallelujah bum again/Hallelujah give us a handout to revive us again
When the union’s inspiration through the workers blood shall run/There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun/Yet what force on Earth is weaker than the feeble force of one but/The union makes us strong/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/For the union makes us strong/Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite/Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might/Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight? For the union makes us strong/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/For the union makes us strong/It is we who plowed the prairies, build the cities where they trade/Dug the mines and build the workshops, endless miles of RR laid/Now we stand outcast and starving ‘mid the wonders we have made but/The union makes us strong/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/For the union makes us strong/They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn/But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn/We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn that/The union makes us strong/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/For the union makes us strong/In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold/Greater than the might of armies magnified a thousand-fold/We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old for/But the union makes us strong/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/Solidarity Forever/For the union makes us strong
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