I always hear this in my memory with John McCutcheon singing it with hammer dulcimer that has been muted to sound like a marimba at first, then fully ringing out. John is a superb Union organizer, and one of the reason Local 1000, the traveling musicians union, exists. If he wants to play instruments with it, more power to him. A song so simple can swell marvelously when a great musician takes it on.

When I sing it, I always wonder if my carpenter union president grandfather would have known it back in the 50s and 60s,msnd sung it as well.


Joanne, sadly at a non union job