SAME BOAT NOW
(Betsy Rose)

CHORUS:
We may have come here on different ships
But we're in the same boat now
We may have come here on different ships
But we're in the same boat now

Some of us came here for freedom from hunger and from hate
Some of us came here to make it rich and some of us came in chains
We gathered in the cities, claimed the new frontier
We pulled the cotton from the land we watered with our tears

Some grew rich by toil and trade, some grew rich by vice
And some grew rich in power and all of us paid the price
And in the name of progress how we ground each other down
But no one is the winner when you're building on bloody ground

Women of all colors from every walk of life
We bore the hidden burden as workers daughters and wives
Hired when we are needed, sent home when jobs ran down
They think we're waiting on the shore, but we're turning the boat around

We're a people born of many shores, our journeys so entwined
And we'll be on a sinking ship if we leave anybody behind
Don't want to be a melting pot, we're a rainbow family
And it's gonna take everything we've got to set each other free

©1983 Betsy Rose


Notes:
Betsy Rose has been a leading figure in feminist music for several years, with her former partner Cathy Winter, and now as a soloist. She is a solid musician and songwriter. "Same Boat Now" was written last year (1983) for a women's demonstration in Washington DC, and we heard her sing it at the People's Music Weekend in January. It was recently on the cover of the March 1984 issue of Broadside, which contained more songs from that weekend.



from Sing Out! Magazine, Vol 30, No. 2 (Apr/May/June 1984), pp 90-91