1. |
Lady of the Harbor
03:16
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From far away and distant lands
The tempest tossed with hopeful hearts and calloused hands
Reach for the light, the torch held high
And cast their gaze upon
the Lady of the Harbor
And she welcomes them
with open arms
She says let my children in
Shine on, shine on,
Oh you Lady of the Harbor
And so it was, our families
They sailed from Poland, Britain,
France, and Germany
Their earthly cares, packed in their bags
They cast their gaze upon
the Lady of the Harbor
And she welcomed them
with open arms
She said let my children in
Shine on, shine on
Oh you Lady of the Harbor
Now we’re locking down the borders
and we’re filling up the jails
And we say they don’t belong
How conveniently do we forget
That we’ve all come to sing
the same sweet song
Will the dream survive the strain
Will huddled masses have a chance
to learn its sweet refrain
Or will we fall into our fears
And turn our backs against
the Lady of the Harbor.
No, we’ll welcome them
with open arms
And say, “Let her children in”
Shine on, shine on
Oh you Lady of the Harbor
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2. |
The Song of Hard Times
03:25
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Come all you good people I’ll sing you a song
I’ll tell you the truth, I know I ain’t wrong
It’s from father to mother, from sister to brother
They’ve got in the fashion of cheating each other
And it’s hard times
Since cheating has got so much into fashion
I’m ‘fraid it’ll spread all over the nation
And it’s hard times
Here’s the old baker bakes all the bread we eat,
Likewise the old butcher by selling his meat
They’ll tip up the stillyards and make them weigh down
And swear it’s good weight if it lacks ten pound
And it’s hard times
Since cheating has got so much into fashion
I’m ‘fraid it’ll spread all over the nation
And it’s hard times
Here’s the proud banker with the keys to his vault
I swear to you all, he’s worse by tenfold
He’ll hand you a thousand and call it a loan
But then soon enough he’ll take all that you own
And it’s hard times
Here comes the senator with a tie and a smile
He’ll pledge and he’ll promise and swear it’s no guile
He’ll go to the capitol and say he’s your friend
Then he’ll line his silk pockets and leave you again
And it’s hard times
Since cheating has got so much into fashion
I’m ‘fraid it’ll spread all over the nation
And it’s hard times
But the lord of industry owns the whole lot
He’s got nothing to fear ‘cause the Senator he’s bought
He’s fixing the vote and he’s rigging the game
But he points to your neighbor when you ask who’s to blame
Since cheating’s the way of the big corporation
By now it’s spread all over the nation
And it’s hard times
Now I’ve concluded I’ve finished my song
I’ve told you the truth and I know I ain’t wrong
The butcher may cheat you, the banker ain’t fair
But the problem is really the billionaire
And it’s hard times
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3. |
Noú Carbons
03:38
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Noù carbons per escriure
Noù pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de noù prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Ueit carbons per escriure
Ueit pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de ueit prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Sèt carbons per escriure
Sèt pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de sèt prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Seis carbons per escriure
Seis pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de seis prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Cinc carbons per escriure
Cinc pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de cinc prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Tres carbons per escriure
Tres pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de tres prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Dos carbons per escriure
Doás pensadas pel ministre
Sus la paret de doás prisons
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
Un carbon per escriure
Una pensada pel ministre
Sus la paret de una prison
Lo qu’es bon e ben anant
Ven capbord o ben michant
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4. |
Parcel of Rogues
04:37
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From California to Massachusetts Bay
From sea across to shining sea
In redwood forest and waves of grain
Lies the beauteous land of our country
Yet before we came these lands were bound
To peoples in relation
To a land now seized as stolen ground
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation
When English pilgrims settled here
They met with native peoples
They bargained to build their homesteads near
And professed they would be peaceful
Then to start a war for land they claimed –
A convenient accusation –
That poor John Sassamon was slain
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation
Oh woe betide the Cherokee,
The Seminole, and the Choctaw
They’ve cast out now the Muscogee,
They’ve banished as well the Chickasaw
Through spurious claims their land was seized
They were driven in forced migration
A trail of thousands to starve or freeze
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation
These trials endured and hardships borne
Tribes started to recover
So laws were writ and children torn
From the arms of their own mothers
To fracture language, kin, and clan
In schools of assimilation
We will “Kill the Indian, and save the man,”
Said the parcel of rogues in our nation
Farewell then to their sacred ground
Farewell their ancient glory
For highways we’ve dug up their burial mound
But buried their culture and story
Now we must write the next verse of the song
One of harm or reparation
And will we choose to right the wrongs
Of the parcel of rogues in our nation?
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5. |
The Terror Time
04:13
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The heather will fade and the bracken will die
Streams will run cold and clear.
And the small birds will be going,
And it’s then that you will be knowing
That the terror time is near.
Where will you turn now and where will you bide
Now that the work’s all done?
For the farmer doesn’t need you
And the Council will not heed you,
And the terror time has come.
The woods give no shelter, and the trees are all bare
Snow’s falling all around.
And the children they are crying
For the bed on which they are lying
Is frozen to the ground.
The frost won’t lift and the stove won’t draw,
There’s ice in the water churn,
In the mud and snow you’re sloshing
Trying to do your bit of washing
And the kindling won’t burn.
When you need the warmth of your own human kind,
You pull near a town, but then
They say, the sight of you’s offending,
And the police they are sending
And you’re on the road again.
The heather will fade and the bracken will die
Streams will run cold and clear.
And the small birds will be going,
And it’s then that you will be knowing
That the terror time is near.
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6. |
Pie in the Sky
04:25
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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.
...That’s a lie!
Long-haired preachers come out every night
Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right
But when asked about something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet
(Chorus)
Oh 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)
Working folk of all countries unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the rich we will sing this refrain:
You will eat, by and by
When you’ve learned how to cook and to fry
Chop some wood, ‘twill do you good
There’s no pie in the sky when you die!
There’s no pie in the sky when you die –
There’s just sky...
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7. |
World Turned Upside Down
01:30
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Through eating too much supper
Before I went to bed
Strange thoughts came o’er my slumber
Strange thoughts came in my head
This world was topsy-turvy
And people of renown
Were doing the most peculiar things
As the world turned upside down
I dreamt all folk were equals
And there were no starving poor
And nations never did quarrel
Nor never went to war
Oh what a curious vision
And yet a question sounds
Is it in dreams or waking
That the world’s turned upside down?
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8. |
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In the state of Mississippi many years ago
A boy of 14 years got a taste of southern law
He saw his friend a hanging and his color was his crime
And the blood upon his jacket left a brand upon his mind
Too many martyrs and too many dead
Too many lies, too many empty words were said
Too many times, too many angry men
Oh let it never be again
His name was Medgar Evers and he walked his road alone
Like Emmett Till and thousands more whose names we’ll never know
They tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground
But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him down
(Chorus)
The killer waited by his home hidden out of sight
The police that always followed Evers disappeared that night
The killer squeezed the trigger, the bullet left his side
It struck the heart of everyone when Evers fell and died.
(Chorus)
And they laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear
Laid him in his grave when the victory was near
While we waited for the future for freedom through the land
The country gained a killer and the country lost a man
(Chorus)
We waited for that future for that liberating day
We ignored our own complicity and didn’t change our ways
Some claim that they are colorblind but color’s still a crime
And the victims of the violence leave a brand upon our mind
Their names were Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Sandra Bland
Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray, George Floyd and Joseph Mann
Eric Garner and so many more who cannot breathe
Each name not just one person but communities bereaved
They were not martyrs but victims of hate
Dismissed and dehumanized, no justice from the state
Killed at the hands of so many angry men
Oh let it never be again
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9. |
Earth's Burdens
04:42
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Why groaning so, thou solid Earth! Tho’ sprightly summer cheers?
O, is thine old heart dead to mirth? Or art thou bowed by years?
No, I’m not cold to summer’s prime, nor knows my heart decay;
Nor am I bowed by countless time, thou atom of a day!
I loved to hear, when tree and tide their gentle music made;
And, lightly, on my sunny side, to feel the plough and spade.
I loved to hold my liquid way through floods of living light;
To kiss the sun’s bright hand by day, and count the stars by night.
I loved to hear the children’s glee around the cottage door;
And peasant’s song right merrily the field come ringing o’er.
But man upon my back has lain such heavy loads of stone,
I cannot grow the golden grain: ‘Tis therefore that I groan.
And where the evening dew sank mild upon my quiet breast,
I feel the tear of the houseless child break burning on my rest.
And thick and fast as autumn-leaves my children drop away:
A gathering of unripened sheaves by premature decay.
Oh! where are all the hallowed sweets, the harmless joys I gave?
The pavements of your sordid street are stones o’er virtue’s grave!
Gaunt misery bars the cottage-door and greed supports the throne;
Indifference echoes more and more: ‘Tis therefore that I groan.
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10. |
Viva la Quince Brigada
03:44
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Viva la quince brigada
Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala
Que se ha cubierto de gloria
Ay, Manuela, ay, Manuela
Luchamos contra los traidores
Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala
Mercenarios y fascistas
Ay, Manuela, ay, Manuela
En el frente de Jarama
Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala
No tenemos ni aviones, ni tanques, ni cañones
Ay, Manuela, ay, Manuela
Solo es nuestro deseo
Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala
Acabar con el fascismo
Ay, Manuela, ay, Manuela
Ya salimos de España
Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala
Por luchar en otros frentes
Ay, Manuela, ay, Manuela
Viva la quince brigada
Rúmbala, rúmbala, rúmbala
Que se ha cubierto de gloria
Ay, Manuela, ay, Manuela
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11. |
.4 Cents a Play
03:33
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My father was a folk musician, he used to sell LPs
Cassette tapes in the 1980s, and later on: CDs
I told him I’d take up his trade, but he looked at me to say:
It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play!
.4 cents a play my friends, just .4 cents a play
It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play
He said back in the good old days the lines would all be long
As people queued to buy CDs, they formed a joyous throng
But now the music’s all online, for discs they will not pay
My darling child, the times have changed–that’s how it is today...
For now they put the CDs down and with a curious eye
They ask the dreaded question then: are you on Spotify?
And with a sigh we answer yes, but this we’d rather say:
It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play!
.4 cents a play my friends, just .4 cents a play
It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play
At the cafe just down the street they roast a tasty bean
I order up a cappuccino, it costs a thousand streams
And if I want to pay my rent, I’m very sad to say:
It costs a quarter million streams at .4 cents a play!
.4 cents a play my friends, just .4 cents a play
It costs a quarter million streams at .4 cents a play
I have not come to tell you all that Spotify is bad
In fact I sometimes stream some music
while hanging out with dad
But if I love an artist’s songs, for their CD I’ll pay
‘Cause I know how hard it is to work for .4 cents a play!
.4 cents a play my friends, just .4 cents a play
‘Cause I know how hard to work for just .4 cents a play
.4 cents a play my friends, just .4 cents a play
So support musicians because they’re worth
more than .4 cents a play!
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12. |
The Trolley Problem
03:53
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I got on the streetcar one day, the conductor held out his hand:
He said, You can’t get no free ride here, man, don’t you understand?
‘Cause, you must have - the stuff they call money
You must have - down in your pocket
You must have - the stuff they call money
Or you can’t ride on here
So I went to the public transit meeting and I raised on up my hand
Don’t ya know, the fellas got called on one by one
And I never got to make a stand
‘Cause you must have the right equipment
You must have down in your pants
You must have the right equipment or you can’t talk in here
Well, I headed to the rally in my tie and bowler hat
But my mama she looked me up and down,
and said, “Are you goin’ out like that?”
‘Cause you must have the right kind of clothing
You must have the proper presentation
You must have the right kind of clothing or you can’t walk out there
Well, the transportation bill got axed and it brought tears to my eyes
Then inside my head I heard a voice sayin’ “Stop that, men don’t cry.”
‘Cause you must have the right kind of feelings
And you must show no emotion
Well, you must have a stony disposition or you can’t walk out there
Well, the streetcar crashed on my morning ride so I went to get a scan
On the doctor’s form I had to choose: check woman or check man
‘Cause you must be one or the other
And it must match what’s down in your pants
You must be one or the other or we won’t see you in here
You’re trying so hard to put me in a box, that you won’t listen me
I’m just tryin’ to help folks get from point A to point B
And I don’t need your opinions
‘Bout my body, it’s none of your business
I just want transportation for all folks ’round here
So I’ll dress and act just how I want when I’m riding that streetcar
Name my desires and speak my truth, we are just who we are
‘Cause you must have freedom of expression
You don’t need anyone’s permission
We must have a gender revolution so let’s start right here
Let’s start right here!
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13. |
Le Diable et le Fermier
04:31
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C’est l’histoire d’un diable, sortant tout droit des flammes
Promettant au fermier de lui laisser son âme
Our story starts in flame, a devil straight from hell
Who to a farmer swore to spare his mortal soul
If he’d divide and share the harvest he had sown
Half and half for each, that’s how the deal was drawn
À chacun sa moitié c’est une obligation
Le diable choisit pour que l’entente soit bonne
De garder ce qu’il reste sur la terre à l’automne
The devil chose his half, to sweeten up his haul
He’d take the part that lay above the ground in fall
The farmer he agreed, and planted straight away
Potatoes, carrots, beets, which beneath the ground all lay
Des patates des carottes véritables navets
Ho ho ho, Oh who would trade their bounty?
Ho ho ho, Les richesses de sa terre
Ho ho, ho, Who got the better deal?
Ho ho ho, Du diable ou de l’homme
Quand arriva le temps d’échanger le butin
Le diable en maudit ne lui restait plus rien
When it was time in fall, to divvy up the spoils,
The devil’s share was naught, it caused his blood to boil
He to the farmer said, “I’ll not be tricked again,
I’ll take the half below, see how you like it then!”
Prenez donc à vot’ tour, c’qui pousse sur le terrain
Le fermier accepta et planta cette fois
Des tomates des courgettes des melons et des pois
The farmer took the deal, and planted all his seeds
Tomatoes, squash, and peas, melons, and green beans
At harvest time the fiend, with nothing for him then
Returned to deepest hell, the farmer wins again
Retourna vers Satan, le fermier triomphant
Ho ho ho, Who’d gamble without knowing
Ho ho ho, Sans connaitre le marché?
Ho ho ho, Who’d fracture their own land?
Ho ho ho, La terre dessous ses pieds
Le diable revint respectant sa parole
De l’eau du gaz du fer, il viderait le sol
But keeping to his word, the devil turned around
He drained the iron, the gas, and the water from the ground
Now on that barren land, what can spring up today?
Just pois’nous leaks of gas, tainted water, and decay
L’eau souillée et les fuites de gaz empoisonné?
La terre fragilisée comme ce Québécois
Condamné à bouillir l’eau que son enfant boit
The farmer like the land stood shattered and defiled
Henceforth condemned to boil the water for his child
The devil thus enriched, from land all dry and spent
Left to seek new ground, leaving nothing but cement
Ho ho ho, At the ending of our story
Ho ho ho. Qui donc aura perdu?
Ho ho ho, Ses précieuses énergies,
Ho ho ho, Who’s lost and who has won?
Ho ho ho, Will we repeat the bargain?
Ho ho ho, Or is the deal already done?
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14. |
When I'm Gone
02:47
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There’s no place in this world where I’ll belong when I’m gone
And I won’t know the right from the wrong when I’m gone
You won’t find me singing on this song when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
And I won’t breathe the bracing air when I’m gone
And I can’t even worry ‘bout my cares when I’m gone
I won’t be asked to do my share when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
And I won’t be running from the rain when I’m gone
And I can’t even suffer from the pain when I’m gone
Can’t say who’s to praise and who’s to blame when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
I won’t see the golden of the sun when I’m gone
The evenings and the mornings will be one when I’m gone
Can’t be singing louder than the guns when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
All my days won’t be dances of delight when I’m gone
The sands will be shifting from my sight when I’m gone
Can’t add my name into the fight when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
I won’t be laughing at the lies when I’m gone
I can’t question how or when or why when I’m gone
Can’t live proud enough to die when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
There’s no place in this world where I’ll belong when I’m gone
And I won’t know the right from the wrong when I’m gone
You won’t find me singing on this song when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
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