The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #77563   Message #1385005
Posted By: Joe Offer
22-Jan-05 - 03:51 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req/Add: They All Sang Bread and Roses (S Kahn
Subject: ADD: They All Sang Bread and Roses
Gecko reminds me that this is the Si Kahn song, "They All Sang Bread and Roses," from his 1991 I Have Seen Freedom album. The CD does not have a lyrics sheet (or at least my copy doesn't). However, it's in the May/Jun/Jul '96 issue of Sing Out!, Vol 41 #1.

They All Sang "Bread and Roses
(Si Kahn, 1989, 1991)

Now don't you think it's crazy,
This old world and its ways?
Whoever thought the Sixties
Would be called the good old days?
But like the Weavers sang to us,
Wasn't that a time?
When we raised our hands
And voices on the line.

CHORUS
And we all sang "Bread and Roses,"
"Joe Hill" and "Union Maid."
We linked our arms and told each other
We are not afraid.
"Solidarity Forever"
Would go rolling through the hall,
"We Shall Overcome" together
One and all.

The more I study history,
The more I seem to find
That in every generation
There are times just like that time
When folks like you and me who thought
That they were all alone
Within this honored movement
Found a home.
CHORUS
(And they all sang

And 'though each generation fears
That it will be the last,
Our presence here is witness
To the power of the past.
And just as we have drawn our strength
From those who now are gone,
Younger hands will take our work
And carry on.
CHORUS
(And they'll all sing ...)


The tune is an offshoot of "Bread and Roses," but not the same. I'll do a MIDI if somebody asks me, but it's probably better to learn it from the recording.

Sorry I goofed on your request at first, Gecko.
-Joe Offer-