Talking Union
Pete Seeger

Now, if you want higher wages let me tell you what to do
You got to talk to the workers in the shop with you
You got to build you a union, got to make it strong
But if you all stick together, boys, it won't be long
You get shorter hours, better working conditions
Vacations with pay. Take your kids to the seashore

It ain't quite this simple, so I better explain
Just why you got to ride on the union train
'Cause if you wait for the boss to raise your pay
We'll all be a-waitin' 'til Judgment Day
We'll all be buried, gone to heaven
St. Peter'll be the straw boss then

Now you know you're underpaid but the boss says you ain't
He speeds up the work 'til you're 'bout to faint
You may be down and out, but you ain't beaten
You can pass out a leaflet and call a meetin'
Talk it over, speak your mind
Decide to do somethin' about it

Course, the boss may persuade some poor damn fool
To go to your meetin' and act like a stool
But you can always tell a stool, though, that's a fact
He's got a yaller streak a-runnin' down his back
He doesn't have to stool, he'll always get along
On what he takes out of blind men's cups

You got a union now, and you're sittin' pretty
Put some of the boys on the steering committee
The boss won't listen when one guy squawks
But he's got to listen when the union talks
He'd better, be mighty lonely
Everybody decide to walk out on him

Suppose they're working you so hard it's just outrageous
And they're paying you all starvation wages
You go to the boss and the boss would yell
Before I raise your pay I'd see you all in hell.
Well, he's puffing a big cigar, feeling mighty slick
'Cause he thinks he's got your union licked
Well, he looks out the window and what does he see
But a thousand pickets, and they all agree
He's a bastard, unfair, slavedriver
Bet he beats his wife

Now, boys, you've come to the hardest time
The boss will try to bust your picket line
He'll call out the police, the National Guard
They'll tell you it's a crime to have a union card
They'll raid your meetin', they'll hit you on the head
They'll call every one of you a goddam red
Unpatriotic, Japanese spies, sabotaging national defense

But out at Ford, here's what they found
And out at Vultee, here's what they found
And out at Allis-Chalmers, here's what they found
And down at Bethlehem, here's what they found
That if you don't let red-baiting break you up
And if you don't let stoolpigeons break you up
And if you don't let vigilantes break you up
And if you don't let race hatred break you up
You'll win. What I mean, take it easy, but take it


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Lyrics by Pete Seeger

  Abiyoyo [#]   Adam The Inventor   All My Children Of The Sun   All My Trials   Alleluya   America, The Beautiful   Arrange And Re-Arrange   Ballad Of The Fort Hood Three   Banks Of Marble   Banks of the Ohio   Barbara Allen [Live]   Battle Of New Orleans   Be Kind to Your Parents   Belle Starr   Billy Barlow   Blow The Man Down   Both Sides Now   Bring Them Home   Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)   Business   Camptown Races   Camptown Races [Gwine to Run All Night]   Cement Octopus   De Colores   Die Gedanken Sind Frei   Down By The River   Down by the Riverside [African American Spiritual]   Draft Dodger Rag   English Is Cuh-ray-zee   False From True   Foggy Dew   From Way Up Here   Go Tell Aunt Rhodie   God Bless The Grass   Goodnight, Irene [Irene, Goodnight]   Guantanamera (Live)   Henry My Son   Hobo's Lullaby   Hobo's Lullaby   House Of The Rising Sun   How Can I Keep From Singing   I Ride An Old Paint   I've Been Working On The Railroad   I’ve Been Working On The Railroad   If I Had A Hammer (Album Version)   If This World Survives   It Really Isn't Garbage   Jackaro   Jacob's Ladder   Jarama Valley   John Brown's Body   John Henry   John Riley   John Riley [Pretty Fair Maid] [the Broken Token] [...   King Henry   Last Train To Nuremberg   Letter To Eve   Little Boxes   Little Fat Baby   Living In The Country   Mastinchele Wachipi Olewan   Michael Row The Boat Ashore   Michael Row The Boat Ashore (Live)   Michael, Row the Boat Ashore   Molly Malone   My Dentist Has Tattooed Legs   My Father's Mansion's Many Rooms   My Name Is Liza Kalvelage   My Rainbow Race   No Irish Need Apply   Now We Sit Us Down   Ode To A Composer Bach At Treblinka   Oh Susanna [#]   Oh What A Beautiful City   Oh, I Had A Golden Thread   Oh, What a Beautiful City!   Old Devil Time   Old Joe Clark [#]   One Grain Of Sand   Or Else   Our Generation   Peg And Awl   Preicious Friend   Queen Anne Front   Quite Early Morning   Quite Early Morning [*]   River   River Song   Roll On, Columbia   Shenandoah   Skip to My Lou   Snow Snow   Solartopia   Song Of The World's Last Whale   Summertime   Take It From DrKing   Talking Ben Tre   Teacher Uncle Ho   The Ballad of Ira Hayes   The Bells of Rhymney   The Bells of Rhymney [#]   The Dying Miner   The Fox   The House of the Rising Sun   The River That Flows Both Ways   The Torn Flag   The Water Is Wide   The Wreck of the Old 97   The Wreck of the Old 97   There'll Come A Day   Throw Away That Shad Net   Throw Away That Shad Net (How Are We Gonna Save To...   Tomorrow's Children   Turn, Turn, Turn   Tzena Tzena Tzena   Tzena, Tzena, Tzena   Uncle Ho   Union Maid   Waist Deep In The Big Muddy   Walking Down Death Row   Walking Down Death Row [*]   Water Is Wide (O Waly Waly)   We Shall Not Be Moved   We Shall Overcome   We Will Love Or We Will Perish   When Johnny Comes Marching Home   Where Have All The Flowers Gone   Where Have All The Flowers Gone?   Which Side Are You On?   Wimoweh (Mbube)   Wimoweh (Mbube) [Live]   Wonderful Friends   Words Words Words

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