Song picture
Union Warriors
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Dedicated to all the warriors of organized labor, past, present, and future. Words & music by Steve Suffet. Back-up vocals by Joel Landy, Eric Levine, Jody Kolodzey, and Ray Korona.
americana roots music folk music political music old time country traditional folk music suffet
Artist picture
Old fashioned folksinger in the People's Music tradition.
Born Stephen Lawrence Suffet in 1947, Steve Suffet is best described as an old fashioned folksinger. His repertoire is a mixture of railroad songs, trucker songs, cowboy songs, union songs, old time ballads, blues, ragtime, Gospel, bluegrass, topical-political songs, and whatever else tickles his fancy. He takes songs from whatever sources he wishes and then he sings them his own way, maybe rewriting the lyrics on the spot, flatting a 7th, or changing a major key to a mountain modal.Steve also writes his own songs, sometimes set to the tunes of traditional folk songs, but more often set to tunes he has composed in traditional styles. Photo credit: Jody Kolodzey
Song Info
Charts
Peak #90
Peak in subgenre #15
Author
Steve Suffet
Rights
Steve Suffet
Uploaded
August 10, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.5 MB 128 kbps 3:49
Story behind the song
My parents were proud to be union members, I'm proud to be a union member, and my daughter is proud to be a union member. Solidarity forever!
Lyrics
Start on chorus: So, if you want to stop us, we say "Come and bring it on!" The more that you repress us, the more that we grow strong. For we are union warriors, and you've got to understand, If you want to play the butcher, we won't play the lamb. When my granddad was a little boy, they leased the convicts out, And sent them down into the mines to dig the black coal out. Our unions rose in anger, and we set those convicts free, Was the Coal Creek Rebellion in the State of Tennessee. Repeat chorus. With your Gattling guns and gallows, you cut our leaders down, Your thugs and vigilantes drove us to the ground. But you trembled in your silken suits when you heard our battle cries, For everyone you murdered, a hundred did arise. Repeat chorus. From the Harlan pits to Lawrence, from Spokane to River Rouge, You tried your best to break us, you tried to make us lose. You tried to split our unions, by religion and by race, You called us reds and anarchists, but we laughed right in your face. Repeat chorus. Now you tell us times are different, and you got us on the run, And your thug's called a consultant; well, he's still a hired gun. And we got a little message, that will shake your corporate suites: You may own the company, but it's we who own the streets! Repeat chorus twice.
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Comments 2
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ebonylatino
Sep 01, 2010
Great song Steve!
Rosie Clare
May 24, 2008
Hi Steve, It always seems like you are truely enjoying yourself when you sing! Thanks for an enjoyable listen. Take Care, Rosie