Here's the original, recorded in the late 1930s.

THERE IS MEAN THINGS HAPPENING IN THIS LAND
(John Handcox)

There is mean things happening in this land,
There is mean things happening in this land;
But the union's goin' on.
And the union's growing strong;
There is mean things happening in this land.

On the eighteenth day of May
The union called a strike.
But the planters and their bosses
Throwed the people outta their shacks.


from Songs for Political Action, Bear Family Records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-edNFqvLLA