Category: songs

Alex Sturbaum 2026

 

Alex Sturbaum: Anti-Compliance Anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpxhyza6tbQ

If you’re a clerk, lose that paper If it takes one day, take two If they ask you on the street about a person you meet That’s a person that you never knew If you’re a cook, burn that sandwich And if they call you, let it ring If they count on your work, it’s your duty to shirk And don’t help them with a single damn thing If they want it done fast do it slowly If they need it done slow, do it now Remember every hour they spend in your power They can’t spend on the streets of your town Well I know we take pride in our labor And we try to do our jobs the right way But I’m telling you true, the best work you can do Is wasting a fascist’s whole day If there’s any cause for a hold-up Any action you can take to take time Make OSHA compliance an act of defiance Read the rules and bring up every line Get lost on your way to the job site Get confused when instructions are clear Find excuses and ways, ’cause when it comes to delays Sometimes a day can be as good as a year Well I know that the fash are imposing They got the money and the courts and the guns But I can tell you, I’ve seen that the whole big machine Needs the likes of us to make it run So get out of your job in a hurry Overcome your despair and your fear Fellow workers unite, use your skills for the fight And start putting some sand in the gears

 

 

trad 

Nowell Sing We Clear: "The Watersons recorded Apple Tree Wassail in 1975 on For Pence and Spicy Ale. This blessing of fruit-bearing trees was common in the English counties of Devon and Somerset, firing gunpowder among the branches and putting a piece of toast on the roots, sometime around the New Year or Epiphany. Peter Kennedy notes that in many places in Somerset it took place on "old style" Epiphany, January 17." Watersons: "A luck charm for the Devon and Somerset cider country. To be sung either at the orchardman's door or in front of his trees. Epiphany (12 days after Christmas) was reckoned a good time for the ceremony. "Lilywhite pin" means "silver-bright pin", again a reference to the finery thought proper for ceremonial occasions."

O lily-white lily, O lily-white pin
Please to come down and let us come in
Lily-white lily, O lily-white smock
Please to come down and pull back the lock

Chorus:
For it’s our wassail, and a jolly wassail!
Joy come to our jolly wassail!
How well they may bloom, how well they may bear
So we may have apples and cider next year

O master and mistress, O are you within?
Please to come down and pull back the pin
O master and mistress, it is our desire
A good loaf and cheese, and a toast by the fire

There was an old farmer and he had an old cow
But how to milk her he didn’t know how
He put his old cow down in his old barn
And a little more liquor won’t do us no harm

Bridge:
For the ringles and the jingles and the tenor of the song goes – merrily
The ringles and the jingles and the tenor of the song goes – merrily
Merrily, merrily The tenor of the song goes merrily

Spoken:
Hatfuls, capfuls, three-bushel bagfuls,
Little heaps under the stairs.
Hip hip hip, hooray! 

Robert Burns 1788

 

Singing more than the first verse and chorus may be inadvisable in most contexts. The final three verses here are from The Sacred Harp in Plenary 162, written by Isaac Watts in 1709, set to this tune called there “Plenary” by A.C. Clark in 1839. Auld Lang Syne started being sung to its familiar tune in 1799.

Tim Eriksen: https://timeriksen.bandcamp.com/track/song-of-the-old-folks-auld-lang-syne (my favorite New Years Eve tradition every year is to listen to this such that the exciting part happens at the stroke of midnight)

https://timeriksen.bandcamp.com/track/song-of-the-old-folks-auld-lang-syne

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne? Chorus For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. And surely you’ll buy your pint cup! and surely I’ll buy mine! And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne. We twa hae run about the braes, and pou’d the gowans fine; But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit, sin’ auld lang syne. We twa hae paidl’d in the burn, frae morning sun till dine; But seas between us braid hae roar’d sin’ auld lang syne. And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere! and gie’s a hand o’ thine! And we’ll tak’ a right gude-willie waught, for auld lang syne. Hark! from the tombs of doleful sound, Mine ears, attend the cry, Ye living men, come view the ground, Where you must shortly lie. “Princes, this clay must be your bed, In spite of all your tow’rs; The tall, the wise, the rev’rend head, Must lie as low as ours.” Great God! Is this our certain doom? And are we still secure? Still walking downward to the tomb, And yet prepared no more!

 

 

Dickie Shannon 1952

 

Dubliners: Luke Kelly The Auld Triangle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa7birRBmNM

A hungry feeling Came o’er me stealingÿ And the mice were squealing In my prison cellÿ Chorus And the old triangle Went jingle jangleÿ All along the banks Of the Royal Canalÿ To begin the morning The warder’s bawlingÿ “Get out of bed And clean up your cell”ÿ On a fine spring evening The lag lay dreamingÿ The seagulls wheeling High above the wall The screw was peeping The lag was sleepingÿ While he lay weeping For his girl Salÿ The wind was rising And the day decliningÿ As I lay pining In my prison cellÿ The day was dying And the wind was sighingÿ As I lay crying In my prison cell

 

 

Robert Burns 1789

 

About the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745. A version was published by Robert Burns in 1789. Whigs may be considered the forerunners of the Liberals and many blamed them for selling out Scotland’s crown, identity and heritage. Written well after the events it commemorates, it is not a genuine Jacobite song, as is the case with many others now considered in the “classic canon of Jacobite songs”, most of which were songs “composed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but were passed off as contemporary products of the Jacobite risings.”

Old Blind Dogs: Awa’ Whigs Awa’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv2ooL2adpg

Chorus Awa’ Whigs, awa’! Awa’ Whigs, awa’! Ye’re but a pack o’ traitor louns, Ye’ll do nae gude at a’. Our thrissles flourish’d fresh and fair, And bonie bloom’d our roses; But Whigs cam’ like a frost in June, An’ wither’d a’ our posies. Our ancient crown’s fa’en in the dust- Deil blin’ them wi’ the stoure o’t! An’ write their names in his black beuk, Wha gae the Whigs the power o’t. Our sad decay in church and state Surpasses my descriving: The Whigs cam’ o’er us for a curse, An’ we hae done wi’ thriving. Grim vengeance lang has taen a nap, But we may see him wauken: Gude help the day when royal heads Are hunted like a maukin!

 

 

Jez Lowe 1985

 

Lowe tells the story that he had a mental block once during a performance and had to think on his feet. He made up the verse about the stripy jumper as he went along and preferred it to the original.

https://jezlowe.bandcamp.com/track/back-in-durham-gaol-2

https://jezlowe.bandcamp.com/track/back-in-durham-gaol-2

I’m a poor man, as honest as they come, I never was a thief until they caught me. And the judge, he said, he swore me hands were red, No matter how I plead, they find me guilty. There was no bail, off to Durham jail, I went, no nothing now could save me, Calamities, they always come in threes, And that’s how many months it was they gave me. Chorus (x2) And no never in the live long day, You’ll not find me back in Durham jail. ‘Twas a gray day when first I went astray, The devil take the man that came to tempt me. “Cause in no time, me life was one of crime, And now you see the trouble that it’s got me. Well there’s four bare walls at which to stare, Me board and me lodgings are all paid for, You can’t see the turnin’ of the key, To hear the turnin’ back is all you wait for. Oh but sad to say, here I am to stay, With only iron bars around to lean on. I get a cold bath to dampen down me wrath- Though it’s barely just a month ago I had one. God knows, I need a suit o’ clothes, You’d think they could’ve found a one to fit me. Me boots would be fine if they were both a nine, I’m walkin’ like a fall o’ stones has hit me. And I’m sure that me mother’s heart would break, To see me in a state of such repentance. I’m glad she’s not around to see -ÿ And I’ll be out before she finishes her sentence. The sun will shine, I’ll leave it all behind, Once more I’ll be a name and not a number, Out of the gate on the narrow and the straight; I hope they let me keep the stripy jumper.

 

 

Sir Alan Patrick Herbert 1931

 

Minor rewriting by Alex Ellis to make it less xenophobic

Oh blessed be the Briton, his beef and his beer And all the good waters that keep him in cheer But blessed beyond cattle and blessed beyond kegs Is the brave British breakfast of bacon and eggs Chorus 1 (alternating) Bacon and eggs, bacon and eggs Sing bacon, sweet bacon, crisp bacon and eggs Thus armed and thus engined, well-shaven and gay We leap to our labors and conquer the day While paltry pale countries as meager as moles Must crawl through the morning on coffee and rolls Chorus 2 (alternating) Coffee and rolls, coffee and rolls Sing coffee, black coffee, vile coffee and rolls What wonder the Frenchman, blown out with new bread Gesticulates oft and is light in the head Our perfect control of our arms and our legs We owe to our ballast of bacon and eggs What wonder that Fortune our people embrace Her loveliest laurels bedecked round our face While sorrow is heaped upon Prussians and Poles Who shame the glad morning with coffee and rolls What wonder the Russian looks redly because Our England, old England, is just as it was We’d fight to the finish, we’d drink to the dregs And dare to be Daniels on bacon and eggs The pale Europeans who fleetingly munch Too little at breakfast, too freely at lunch Sit sated in cafes, incapable souls And go to the devil on coffee and rolls Oh breakfast, oh breakfast, the meal of my heart Bring sausage, bring porridge, bring fish for a start Bring mushrooms and kidneys and partridges’ legs But let the foundation be bacon and eggs

 

 

Paul Wilson 1982

 

“Written about the ancient Bampton Fair in Devon, once a very important pony-trading event but largely taken over by a funfair by the time he visited in the 1970s. The song includes examples of Romani speech including “grai” for horse.” Bampton Fair has been happening since 1258 on the last Thursday of October, though now it is more of a “fun fair” or “pony fair” than its traditional horse-trading focus.

Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/bampton-fair

https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/bampton-fair

Are you going to Bampton Fair? Get your beer down Bob, we’re moving Are you going to Bampton Fair, boy? We’ll go to the fair like we’ve always done Get in the car and give it a run Get a few friends and have some fun Down at the Bampton Fair, boy, down at the Bampton Fair Who did you see at the Bampton Fair? Young ones, old ones, me and you Travellers, farmers, visitors too They even had a TV crew Down at the Bampton Fair? What did you buy at the Bampton Fair? A crockery set that has no cups A brand new shirt that has no cuffs A bloomin’ old grai that has no puff Down at the Bampton Fair? What did you drink at the Bampton Fair? Twenty-one pints and one for me head A scotch or a brandy or a port instead All served up in a muddy old shed Down at the Bampton Fair? What did you get at the Bampton Fair? Two black eyes and a broken nose I caught a cold and I damn near froze A bump on the head and I tore me clothes Down at the Bampton Fair? Will you go next year to Bampton Fair? If the pubs are open and the beer is free If the landlord says “It’s all on me” If I can’t think of anywhere else to be I’ll go to Bampton Fair, boy, go to the Bampton Fair

 

 

Les Rice 1948

 

Rice was an apple grower in Newburgh, New York, one-time president of the Ulster County chapter of the Farmers Union, and was introduced by Pete Seeger at a hootenanny not long after writing the song.

Pete Seeger: Banks of Marble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKhvT5B0IeE

I’ve traveled round this country From shore to shining shore It really made me wonder The things I heard and saw. I saw the weary farmer Plowing sod and loam l heard the auction hammer A knocking down his home Chorus But the banks are made of marble With a guard at every door And the vaults are stuffed with silver That the farmer sweated for l saw the seaman standing Idly by the shore l heard the bosses saying Got no work for you no more I saw the weary miner Scrubbing coal dust from his back I heard his children cryin Got no coal to heat the shack I’ve seen the people working Throughout this mighty land l prayed we’d get together And together make a stand Final Chorus Then we’d own those banks of marble With a guard at every door And we’d share those vaults of silver That we have sweated for

 

 

David Francey 2009

 

David Francey: https://davidfrancey.bandcamp.com/track/banks-of-the-seaway-2

https://davidfrancey.bandcamp.com/track/banks-of-the-seaway-2

Chorus I took my love down to Summerstown On the banks of the Seaway Where the big ships go by On the banks of the St. Lawrence River we lie On the banks of that river so wide And when we hear the winter turn In the sound of the blackbirds cry I’ll take my love down to Summerstown? And when we see the springtime turn To a cloud in the summer sky And when we feel the summer turn On the wind that the leaves will fly And when we hear the autumn turn In the northern wind’s cold cry