David Rovics
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We Just Want the World We Just Want the World
We Just Want the World -- not its ashes. There's certainly no future for any of humanity's hopes and dreams if the earth itself is strangled to death by oil spills and chainsaws.
Judi Bari Judi Bari
Judi Bari was someone I and many other people really looked up to for a lot of reasons, and her premature death was a major blow to the environmental movement and the movement for social change as well.
Parking Lots and Strip Malls Parking Lots and Strip Malls
There is nothing inevitable about "progress." It only happens because certain forces in society make it happen, and others fail to stop it from happening.
Contras, Kings and Generals Contras, Kings and Generals
A song for the beautiful, suffering people of Iraq, and all the other victims of America's genocidal foreign policy.
Song for Hugh Thomson Song for Hugh Thomson
A helicopter pilot landed in My Lai near the end of this horrible massacre perpetrated upon Vietnamese peasants by American troops...I never knew certain American troops were also involved with finally putting an end to it.
Too Proud to Beg Too Proud to Beg
I wrote the song during the heat wave in the summer of '95, about a man who died at that time while he was living in his car.
Glory and Fame (edited) Glory and Fame (edited)
My other name for the song is "Labor History 101." I used to call it "Ballad of the Proletariat," but Pete Seeger suggested I change the title, pointing out that "proletariat" is a "long, Latin word" which "might as well be in Swahili, or Chinese."
If I Die Tomorrow If I Die Tomorrow
More thoughts on some of the various ways one might meet death prematurely in modern America. (with hidden surprise!)
Pretty Boy Floyd Pretty Boy Floyd
When you take a look at the folk songs out there to be found, you will be very hard-pressed to find a song praising a banker, but it's easy to find songs praising the virtues of a bank robber.
Death of Mother Jones Death of Mother Jones
Mother" Mary Jones fought tirelessly for workers' rights in the coal mines and the textile mills.
(The Lowell) Factory Girl (The Lowell) Factory Girl
Young women in the textile mills of Massachusetts died at an average age of 26, constantly inhaling cotton dust, working long hours in unventilated rooms lit by oil lamps.
The Popular Wobbly The Popular Wobbly
This is one of many songs that to me really captures the rambunctious, fighting spirit of the IWW.
Spencil Hill Spencil Hill
A classic, heart-wrenching song of lost love and immigration.
Pay Day at Coal Creek Pay Day at Coal Creek
One of the many songs about losing your job, and having to look for work.
Big Rock Candy Mountain Big Rock Candy Mountain
"Bum work for bum pay" was once a common virtue (and still is for many good people). When no one wants to pay decently for a decent day's work, laziness becomes a fine art.
The Beggin' The Beggin'
I think the melody of this song is particularly haunting. It's an old English song about living on the street.
Sacco and Vanzetti Sacco and Vanzetti
Sacco and Vanzetti were two men in a growing list of falsely-accused activists, executed for political reasons in America.
Massacre of 1913 Massacre of 1913
So many good people died during America's labor wars, and without songs like these, these 73 slain children of Calumet, Michigan would probably be just another statistic.
