Arise you prisoners of starvation   

Arise you wretched of the earth

For reason thunders condemnation 

And a better world’s in birth

No more tradition’s chains shall bind us

Arise, to freedom one and all

The earth will rise on new foundations

and we will watch the old ones fall

So all working people the struggle carries on

The Inter-national-e unites the world in song

So comrades, come rally

For this is the time and place

The international ideal unites the human race

Lyrics: Eugène Pottier, 1871; Music: Pierre De Geyter, 1888

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid

Of goons and ginks and company finks and 

The deputy sheriffs who made the raid.

She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,

And when those company goons came round

She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

This union maid was wise, to the tricks of company spies

She couldn't be fooled by the company stools

She'd always organize the guys, 

She always got her way when she struck for higher pay, 

She'd show her card to the national guard

And this is what she'd say

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

When this song was first sung, our fight had just begun

And union maids in the union trades,

Organized 'til the job was done

In lady's auxiliaries, of giant factories

Side-by-side, they won their pride, 

In union victories

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

So gals who wanna be free, won't you take this tip from me

Break out of the mold that we've all been sold

You've got a fighting history, 

The fight for women's rights with workers must unite, 

So roll those bones like mother jones 

To the front of every fight

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

Lyrics: Woody Guthrie, 1940; Adapted From Music By: Kerry Mills, 1907 and Robert Schumann, 1848

Some people say a man is made outta mud

A poor man's made outta muscle 'n blood

Muscle an' blood an' skin an' bone

A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons an' whaddya get?

Another day older an' deeper in debt

Saint Peter doncha call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

Where it's dark as a dungeon, damp as the dew

Danger is double, pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls, the sun never shines

It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mine

You load sixteen tons an' whaddya get?

Another day older an' deeper in debt

Saint Peter doncha call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

There's a hole in this mountain, it's dark and it's deep

God only knows all the secrets it keeps

There's a chill in the air only miners can feel

The ghosts in the tunnels that the company sealed

You load sixteen tons an' whaddya get?

Another day older an' deeper in debt

Saint Peter doncha call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

Lyrics and Music: Merle Travis, 1946

Verse 2 from: Merle Travis - Dark as a Dungeon, 1946

Verse 2 from: Steve Earl - The Mountain, 1999

The world is waking outside my window

Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

Drags my senses into the sunlight

For there are things that I must do

Wish me luck now, I have to leave you

Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

With my friends now up to the city

We're going to shake the Gates of Hell

And I will tell them - we will tell them

Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

That our sunlight is not for franchise

And wish the bastards drop down dead

Next time you see me I may be smiling

Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

I'll be in prison or on the TV

I'll say, "the sunlight dragged me here!"

The world is waking outside my window

Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao

Drags my senses into the sunlight

For there are things that I must do

Music/Lyrics: Originally published 1953, exact origins unknown

Yeah, this one's for the workers who toil night and day

By hand and by brain, to earn your pay

Who for centuries long past, for no more than your bread

Have bled for your countries and counted your dead

In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines

We've often been told to keep up with the times

For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job

And with sliderule and stopwatch our pride they have robbed

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die

The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky

And we're always the last when the cream is shared out

For the worker is working when the fat cat's about

And when the sky darkens and the prospect is war

Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore

And expected to die for the land of our birth

Though we've never owned one lousy handful of earth?

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die

The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky

And we're always the last when the cream is shared out

For the worker is working when the fat cat's about

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die

The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky

And we're always the last when the cream is shared out

For the worker is working when the fat cat's about

All of these things the worker has done

From tilling the fields to carrying the gun

We've been yoked to the plough since time first began

And always expected to carry the can

Music/Lyrics: Ed Pickford, 1981

Tumble outta bed and a ‘stumble to the kitchen

Pour myself a cup of ambition

And yawn n’ stretch n’ and try to come to life

Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin’

Out on the streets the traffic starts jumpin’

With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

Workin` 9 to 5 - what a way to make a livin`

Barely gettin` by - it`s all takin` and no givin`

They just use your mind and never give you credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

9 to 5 - for service and devotion

You would think that I deserve a fair promotion

Want to move ahead but the boss won't seem to let me

I swear sometimes that man is out to get me 

They let you dream just to watch ‘em shatter

You’re just a step on the boss man’s ladder

But you got dreams he’ll never take away 

In the same boat with a lot of your friends

Waitin’ for the day your ship’ll come in

The tide’s gonna turn it’s gonna roll your way

Workin’ 9 to 5 - what a way to make a livin’

Barely gettin’ by - it’s all takin’ and no givin’

They just use your mind and never give you credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

Nine to five, yeah, they got you where they want you

There's a better life & ya think about it don't you?

It's a rich man's game no matter what they call it

And you spend your life puttin' money in his wallet

Music/Lyrics: Dolly Parton, 1980

Solidarity forever,  solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong.

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 strength of one,

But the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever,  solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong.

Is there ought 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, 

Built the cities where they trade

Dug the mines and build the workshops, 

Endless miles of railroad 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.

All the world that's owned by idle drones

Is ours and ours alone

We have laid the wide foundations, 

Built it skyward stone by stone

It is ours, not to slave in,

But to master and to own

While 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

For the union makes us strong

Solidarity forever,  solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong.

Lyrics: Ralph Chaplin, 1915

Adapted From:  

Say, Brothers will you Meet Us (Glory Hallelujah), 1700s

John Brown's Body, 1861

Battle Hymn of the Republic, 1861