Talking Union
Woody Guthrie

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 seegar, 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!


  Purchase "Talking Union"   Purchase Entire Album   Email Video to Friends   Play Youtube "Talking Union" Video   Play Spotify "Talking Union" Song   View Wikipedia "Talking Union" Entry   Receive Emails for Future Woody Guthrie Lyrics

Email:

  Link to "Talking Union"   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Lyrics For You

Loading...

Lyrics by Woody Guthrie

  1913 Massacre   A Dollar Down   A Dollar Down and a Dollar a Week   A Picture From Life's Other Side   Ach Hätte Ich Ein Bierchen (freie &uu...   Ach Hätte Ich Ein Bierchen (freie übersetzun...   Aginst Th' Law   Aginst Th' Law   Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way   Ain't Nobody's Business   Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way   Airline To Heaven   All Work Together   All You Fascists   Another Man's Done Gone   Another Man's Done Gone   At My Window Sad & Lonely   Bed On The Floor   Belle Starr   Better World A-comin'   Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done   Bile Them Cabbage Down   Billy The Kid   Birds & Ships   Black Wind Blowing   Blowin' Down This Road   Brown Eyes   Brown's Ferry Blues   Buffalo Skinners   Bury Me Beneath the Willow   Bury Me Beneath the Willow   Bury Me Beneath the Willow   Bury Me Beneath The Willow   Cadillac Eight   California Stars   Chisholm Trail   Christ For President   Clean-O   Cocaine Blues   Columbia River   Columbia's Waters   Columbia’s Waters   Columbus Stockade   Come See   Crawdad Song   Dance A Little Longer   Dance Around   Danville Girl, No. 2   Dear Mrs. Roosevelt   Deportee   Deportees   Dirty Overhauls   Do Re Mi   Don't You Push Me Down   Don't You Push Me Down   Dust Bowl Blues   Dust Bowl Refugee   Dust Cain't Kill Me   Dust Can't Kill Me   Dust Can't Kill Me   Dust Pneumonia Blues   Dust Storm Disaster   Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good To Know Yuh...   Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good To Kno...   East Texas Red   Eisler On The Go   End Of My Line   Ezekiel Saw The Wheel   Farmer-Labor Train   Gambling Man   Get Along Little Doggies   God And Joseph   God's Promise   God's Promise   Goin' Down The Road   Going Down The Road   Going Down the Road (Feeling Bad)   Going Down The Road Feeling Bad   Gonna Roll The Union On   Goodbye Centralia   Goodnight Irene   Grand Coulee Dam   Grand Coulee Dam [*]   Greenback Dollar   Guitar Rag   Gypsy Davy   Hang Knot   Hangknot, Slipknot   Hanuka Bell   Hanuka Dance   Hanuka Gelt   Hanuka Tree   Hanuka's Flame   Happy Joyous Hanuka   Hard Ain't It Hard   Hard Ain't It Hard   Hard Ain’t It Hard   Hard Travelin'   Hard Travelin'   Hard, Ain't It Hard   Heaven   Hesitating Beauty   Hey Lolly Lolly   Hey, Lolly Lolly   Hobo's Lullaby   Hobo's Lullaby   Hoodoo Voodoo   Howdido   I Ain't Got No Home   I Ain't Got No Home (In This World Anymore)   I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore   I Ain't Got No Home   I Ain’t Got No Home   I Guess I Planted   I Just Want To Sing Your Name   I Ride An Old Paint   I Take My Penny   I've Got To Know   I've Got To Know   Ilsa Koch   Ingrid Bergman   It Takes A Married Man To Sing A Worried Song   Jackhammer Blues   Jackhammer John   Jarama   Jarama Valley   Jesse James   Jesse James And His Boys   Jesus Christ   Jesus Christ   Jig Along Home   Jiggy Jiggy Bum   Joe Dimaggio Done It Again   John Henry   Jolly Banker   Just The Facts Maam   Keep That Oil A-Rollin'   Keep That Oil A-Rollin'   Keep Your Skillet Good And Greasy   Kissin' On   Little Boxes Beatnik Version   Little Darling Pal Of Mine   Little Seed   Lonesome Day   Lonesome Valley   Los Angeles New Year's Flood   Los Angeles New Year’s Flood   Lost John   Ludlow Massacre   Ludlow Massacre   Mail Myself To You   Mean Talking Blues   Mermaid's Avenue   Mermaid's Avenue   Merry-go-round   More Pretty Girls Than One   My Daddy   My Daddy (flies A Ship In The Sky)   My Dolly   My Flying Saucer   My Peace   My Secret   Narrator [Speech]   New Found Land   New York Town   Nine Hundred Miles   Nine Hundred Miles (Instrumental)   Ninety Mile Wind   Oklahoma Hills   Old Judge Thayer   One By One   One Day Old   Oregon Trail   Pastures Of Plenty   Pastures of Plenty [*]   Peace Call   Philadelphia Lawyer   Pick It Up   Plane Wreck At Los Gatos   Poor Boy   Poor Lazarus   Post War Breakout   Pretty And Shiny-o   Pretty Boy Floyd   Put My Little Shoes Away   Put Your Finger In The Air   Race You Down The Mountain   Ramblin' Blues   Ramblin' Round   Ramblin' Round   Ranger's Command   Ranger's Command   Rangers Command   Reckless Talk   Red Wine   Remember The Mountain Bed   Riding In My Car (Car Song)   Roll On   Roll On Columbia   Roll, Columbia, Roll   Root Hog & Die   Root Hog And Die   Sacco's Letter To His Son   Sally, Don't You Grieve   Sally, Don't You Grieve   Secret Of The Sea   She Came Along To Me   Ship In The Sky   Sinking Of The Reuben James   Sinking Of The Rueben James   Sixteen Tons   Slipknot (Hangknot, Slipknot)   So Long -- It's Been Good To Know Yuh   So Long -- It's Been Good To Know Yuh   So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh   So Long, It's Been Good To Know Yuh (Dusty Old Dus...   So Long, It’s Been Good To Know Yuh   Song Of The Grand Coulee Dam   Sowing On The Mountain   Springfield Mountain   Stagolee   Stepstone   Stewball   Suassos Lane   Takin’ It Easy   Talkin' Hard Luck Blues   Talking Blues   Talking Columbia   Talking Dust Bowl   Talking Dust Bowl Blues   Talking Dust Bowl Blues (Alternate Take)   Talking Fishing Blues   Talking Hard Work   Talking Merchant Marine   Talking Merchant Marine (Talking Sailor)   Talking Sailor   Talking Subway   The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done (A.K.A. T...   The Dying Doctor   The Dying Miner   The Farmer-Labor Train   The Flood And The Storm   The Gambler   The Grand Coulee Dam   The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster)   The Jolly Banker   The Ladies' Auxiliary   The Ladies' Auxiliary   The Many And The Few   The Midnight Special   The Ranger's Command   The Rising Sun Blues   The Sinking Of The Reuben James   The Unwelcome Guest   The Wreck Of The Old '97   They Laid Jesus Christ In His Grave   This Land Is Your Land   This Land is Your Land (Alternate Version)   This Land Is Your Land (Standard Version)   This Land Is Your Land [Folk Melody]   This Morning I Am Born Again   Tom Joad   Tom Joad (Part 1)   Tom Joad (Part 2)   Two Good Men   Union Burying Ground   Union Maid   Union Maid (Excerpt)   Vanzetti's Letter   Vanzetti's Rock   Vanzetti's Rock   VD City   Vigilante Man   Waiting At The Gate   Wake Up   Walt Whitman\u00c2\u00b4s Niece   Walt Whitman´s Niece   Washington Talkin' Blues   Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key   We Shall Be Free   We Welcome To Heaven   What Are We Waiting On?   When That Great Ship Went Down (The Great Ship)   When The Curfew Blows   When The Yanks Go Marching In   Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?   Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?   Why, Oh Why   Will Rogers Highway   Worried Man Blues   You Souls Of Boston

Related Songs

  Talking Union - Si Kahn  Talking Union - Almanac Singers  Talking Union - Pete Seeger  Old Enough - Peter, Paul & Mary  Old Enough - Peter, Paul & Mary  OLD ENOUGH (Ode to An Aging Rocker)...  One Big Union For Two - Barbra Streisand  Eisern Union - Nina Hagen  Union City Blue - Original Single Version...  Union Blues - Blondie  Union City Blues - Radiohead  Union City Blue - Radiohead  Union City Blue [Original Single Version]...  Union City Blues - Blondie  Union City Blue - Blondie  Union City Blue (Diddy's Power And Passion Mix)...  Union City Blue (Remix) - Blondie  Union Street - Daniel Johns  Union - Jag Panzer  Suckling the Mender - Cocteau Twins  I Guess I Planted - Billy Bragg and Wilco  One by One - Billy Bragg and Wilco  I Guess I Planted - Wilco  Western Union - Elvis Presley  Student Union - Lady Sovereign  PC - Vic Chesnutt  Union - Neurotic Outsiders  Union Maid - Pete Seeger  Union - Neurotic Ousiders  Union Maid - Old Crow Medicine Show  Part of the Union - The Strawbs  Part Of The Union - Strawbs  Hands in the Snow - Saturday Looks Good to Me  Western Union - Presley Elvis  Western Union [true stereo mix]...  Western Union - The Five Americans  Western Union [Stereo] - The Five Americans  Solidarity Forever...  Crack in the Union Jack - Suede  union - Avail  Union - Sting  Union - M.I.C  Union - The Black Eyed Peas  Union - Sabaton  Union - Black Eyed Peas  Union - Deptford Goth  Hold the Fort [Bonus CD] - Billy Bragg  Hold the Fort [*] - Billy Bragg  Solidarity Forever - Shannon Murray  Give Peace a Chance - Elton John  Yo Estoy Con Chavez - Los Lobos  Easy Jesus - Zilch  Reaction - Cracker  That's Why They Call It A Union...  Hey Western Union Man - The Supremes  Hey Western Union Man - Diana Ross  Heavenly Union (1808) - Daniel Zott  Artlaws - Computer  I've Got That Old Feeling...  Where Did My Legs Go To?...  World In Union - Shirley Bassey  Hey Western Union Man - Diana Ross & the Supremes  The Road of Passage, for vocal ensemble - Anúna  The Road of Passage - Anúna  Talking, Talking - New Young Pony Club  Limited Taiwan - Chthonic  Unlimited Taiwan - Chthonic  Sons of Hostage Life - Hostage Life  Southcross Union - Rage  There Is Power In A Union - Billy Bragg  Union Of The Snake - Duran Duran  Mrs. Butterworth [Rehearsal Demo] - Nirvana  Mrs. Butterworth (Rehearsal Demo) - Nirvana  Mrs. Butterworth - Nirvana  I Guess I Planted - Billy Bragg  World In Union - Paloma Faith  Reds Strike The Blues - The Redskins  Everlasting In Union - Laibach  Everlasting Union - Laibach  Harry Simms - Pete Seeger  The Eddystone Light - Peter, Paul & Mary  THE EDDYSTONE LIGHT - Peter, Paul & Mary  Re-Union - The Only Ones  Which Side Are You On? - Dropkick Murphys  Ihu - Arbor Labor Union  Babel - Arbor Labor Union  Hey, Western Union Man - Jerry Butler  Hey Western Union Man - Jerry Butler  That's Why They Call It A Union - Less Than Jake  That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Why They Call It A Union...  Volume peaks - Arbor Labor Union  Hello transmission - Arbor Labor Union  Mr birdsong - Arbor Labor Union  Silent oath - Arbor Labor Union  Belief d - Arbor Labor Union  Seventh Street - The Buffalo Skinners  I am you - Arbor Labor Union  California Zephyr - Hank Williams  World In Union - Hayley Westenra  War Dance - XTC  What's A Matter You People - Kelly Family  What's A Matter You People - Kelly Family  Symbiotic - Living Sacrifice  Old Enough (Ode to an Aging Rocker)...  Working On The Highway - Bruce Springsteen  Old Enough(Ode to an Aging Rocker)...  Todos Buenos - Boney M.  A Man - Alanis Morissette  Corrido De Dolores Huerta #39 - Los Lobos  Western Union - Modena City Ramblers  A Shipwreck In The Sand - Silverstein  That€™s Why They Call It A Union...  Union Street - Duke And The King  Snowmen - Agents of Satan  Woody Guthrie - Alabama 3  Hazard, Kentucky - Phil Ochs  A Man - Alanis Morissette  The Sweetest Drop - Peter Murphy  Wich Side Are You On? - Dropkick Murphys  Rolling Western Union - Elton John  Shiftwork - Kenny Chesney  Wang Dang Doodle - The Pointer Sisters  Wang Dang Doodle - Rufus Thomas  Wang Dang Doodle - Marva Wright  Wang Dang Doodle [DVD] - The Pointer Sisters  The Deadly Rythm - Refused  Wang Dang Doodle - Warren Zevon  Wang Dang Doodle [Single Version]...  State Of The Union - Chicago  Deadly Rhythm - Refused  And We Danced - Hooters  State of the Union [Quadrophonic Mix] - Chicago  Union Worker - Discipline  Union Man - Neil Young  Which Side Are You On? - Pete Seeger  Stronger Love - Joan Armatrading  United By Freedom - Majesty  Blood Of Eden - Sinead O'Connor  Blood Of Eden - Sinead O'connor  Union Jack - Babys, The  Teuton Tantrums - Comecon  Western Union Wire - Kinky Friedman  Union of Pride - Killer Dwarfs  Bound for Glory - Virus Nine  Talking - The Rifles  Talking - A House  Talking - Descendents  Talking - Annuals  Talking - A Flock Of Seagulls  Talking - Dikta  Blood of Eden [Album Version] - Peter Gabriel  Blood Of Eden - Peter Gabriel  Dead End - Widow  Hold The Fort - Billy Bragg  In Union We Stand - Overkill  Survival Car - Fountains Of Wayne  Pavor Nocturnus - Igorrr  Take Down The Union Jack - Billy Bragg  Take Down the Union Jack...  Take Down the Union Jack [Band Version][*]...  Take Down the Union Jack (Band Version)...  Real Great Britain - Asian Dub Foundation  Bat Horde - TearstaineD  In a Deeper World - Borknagar  Jambi - Tool  Treaty - Yothu Yindi  Wang Dang Doodle - The Howling Wolf  Eddystone Light - The Weavers  Treaty [Peace Division Dub] - Yothu Yindi  Wang-Dang-Doodle - Howlin' Wolf  Wang Dang Doodle - Howlin' Wolf  The deadly rhythm (of the production line)...  Wang Dang Doodle - Howlin' Wolf  Wang Dang Doodle - PJ Harvey  Wang Dang Doodle - P.J. Harvey  Treaty (Radio Mix) - Yothu Yindi  To Serve Man - Nuclear Assault  21. Desmond Lynam's Sports Trivia - Chumbawamba  Desmond Lynam's Sports Trivia - Chumbawamba  Wang Dang Doodle - Willie Dixon  Haters' Union - Steve Poltz  Union Song - The Nightwatchman  South Union - Lucky Boys Confusion  Union Blood - Rancid  Union Falls - Amandine  Ritual Union - Little Dragon  Union Jack - John Waite  Union 7 - Rusted Root  The Union - Laakso  Union Pool - Plushgun  Union Plague - Olehole  Union News - Catherine MacLellan  Union Federal - Phish  Union Square - Tom Waits  The Union - The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza  Union Jack - Magellan  Union Jack - The Babys  Union Sundown - Dylan Bob  Machinist Union - Song Of Zarathustra  Union Square - Devil Doll