Subject: Lyr Req: songs about women- sewing factories&hospi From: bfolkemer Date: 06 Feb 03 - 07:17 PM Hi everyone, I'm searching for songs about women who worked in sewing factories. The historical period I'm most interested in is around 1920, but older stuff will certainly do. Songs from the U.S. are better for the program we've been asked to do, but I'm not going to be too picky. I do have the "Jute Mill Song," which I could adapt, but it would be nice to get a little closer to the theme. Songs about women working in sweat shops, factories, etc., might also work. I'm also looking for songs that might relate to a character who founded the local hospital at about the same time. Thanks very much! Beth |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,AArk Date: 06 Feb 03 - 07:23 PM Will "the Weaver and the Factory Maid" do? Its in the Digitrad. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: mg Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:03 PM there is one that Rebel Voices I think that is about the fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist?? Factory...mg |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: JedMarum Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:17 PM STREETS OF FALL RIVER is about a man who worked his life in the textile mills of southern New England. Probably not a fit to what you're looking for - but may be a first cousin. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: Tattie Bogle Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:46 PM Not sure if your "Jute Mill Song" is the same as Sheena Wellington's "Women of Dundee" but it's about the jute mills of Dundee Also there's Ewan McVicar's song "Working in the Mill", more about spinning thread than sewing. Tattie B |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: SINSULL Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:53 PM In The Weaving Room |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: SINSULL Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:57 PM Babies In The Mill Weave Room Blues both by Dorsey Dixon. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: SINSULL Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:58 PM Poverty Knock These are all about weavers. Does that help? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: SINSULL Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:17 PM Ballad of the Triangle Fire ^^^ By Ruth Rubin In the heart of New York City, near Washington Square In nineteen eleven, March winds were cold and bare. A fire broke out in a building ten stories high, And a hundred and forty-six young girls in those flames did die. On the top floor of that building, ten stories in the air These young girls were working in an old sweatshop there; They were sewing shirtwaists for a very low wage. So tired and pale and worn-out! They were at a tender age. The sweatshop was a stuffy room with but a single door; The windows they were gray with dust from off that dirty floor; There were no comforts, no fresh air, no light to sew thereby, And the girls, they toiled from early morn till darkness filled the sky. Then on that fateful day ? dear God, most terrible of days! When that fire broke out, it grew into a mighty blaze. In that firetrap way up there with but a single door, So many innocent working girls burned, to live no more! A hundred thousand mourners, they followed those sad biers. The streets were filled with people weeping bitter tears. Poets, writers everywhere described that awful pyre, When those young girls were trapped to die in the Triangle Fire. © 1968 Ruth Rubin from the Sing Along Songbook, 1993 UCLEA NE Summer Institute for Union Women, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1993. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: SINSULL Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:22 PM OOPS. Sorry, Joe. That is in the DT with a MIDI for the tune. Type in"sewing" in the search box. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:25 PM "The Ballad of the triangle Fire, Ruth Rubin, already is in the DT. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: Cluin Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:31 PM Look for the Union label... |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: pattyClink Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:33 PM The New Doffing Mistress or "Doffin' Mistress" in the DT, is about some fabric finishing women who get a new forewoman they do not like. Great melody and chorus. DM in the DT |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:39 PM Two years ago, in thread 17231, someone was looking for chords to the Ballad of the Triangle Fire. Anyone have them? The DT has a midi, but not available at this time. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,Sandy Paton Date: 06 Feb 03 - 10:59 PM "Weaver's Reverie" is a great song by Bob Coltman about the mills in Massachusetts. It's sung by Ed Trickett (with Cathy Barton, Dave Para, Harry Tuft, and Sandy & Caroline Paton) on "For All the Good People" -- Folk-Legacy CD-121. Sandy (sans cookie) |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,Sandy again Date: 06 Feb 03 - 11:08 PM I should also mention "Cotton Mill Blues" by Si Kahn. It's sung by Ed Trickett on his newly available "made to order" CD-92 titled "People Like You." This is one of the thirty older Folk-Legacy releases now ready to be provided to individual customers as CDs. We're working on even more -- mastering them as quickly as we can, and producing them, a few at a time, here in our own studio. Write to me, or call 800-836-0901, if you'd like to know what's available now. I don't even have them on the web site yet! Sandy (folklegacy@snet.net) |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: mg Date: 06 Feb 03 - 11:15 PM oh yes..how can we forget Cotton Mill girls..not about sewing but an all time great song. And Cotton Jenny by Gordon Lightfoot. mg |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: mg Date: 06 Feb 03 - 11:35 PM Anne Hills I think wrote one about silk mills..the workers of Allentown? I heard Sue Postans et al on Virgo Rising do it. mg |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: nutty Date: 07 Feb 03 - 02:06 AM I know that the "Song of the Shirt"by Thomas Hood? was posted in a thread not too long ago but am not able to find it through 'forum search'. Can anyone else help???? |
Subject: Lyr Add: WEAVER'S REVERIE From: catspaw49 Date: 07 Feb 03 - 02:40 AM Sandy and Sinsull both mentioned my favorite, "WEAVER'S REVERIE." Below are the lyrics with some notes by Dave Para. Sandy's recording that he mentions is simply beautiful of this poignant and haunting song. Ed learned this song while visiting Bob Coltman a few years ago at his home in South Chelmsford, MA. While researching the history of nearby Lowell, Bob found a bit of prose written by Harriet Farley which appeared in the Lowell Offering, a mill newsletter printed in 1841. Much of the song comes from that prose, and Bob says that the first verse is almost verbatim. He wrote the song in 1989, "in a matter of minutes." ..............Dave Para ********************************************************************* ^^ WEAVER'S REVERIE Where the weaver stands to work, she can scarcely see the sky The songs of the sparrow can't be heard. The golden sunlight out the dirty window shines; She turns to her weaving without a word. Slap go the belts against the pulleys; Shuttles fly across the loom. There are hours to go, and they never go so slow As they go in the weaving room. I think on nature as the hungry think on food; Without it, I've solitary grown. But in this restless place, every loom, every face, Tell me, how can I ever be alone? It could be worse; I suppose I might be A dresser sizing the yarn. So hot and so wet and the lint in the air I'm sure that my lungs would come to harm. Oh, yes, as jobs go, it is a very good job; Few finer for a woman can be found. But this cannot be the end for which womankind was made 'Twixt the cradle and the green, grassy mound. I tire of the noise; there are too few joys. I am drawn to the window and the sky. But "Your looms are going without filling," says a voice, And I run to change my shuttles on the fly. ******************************************************************* Spaw |
Subject: Lyr Add: SEWING MACHINES (Nancy White) From: Cluin Date: 07 Feb 03 - 04:30 AM SEWING MACHINES^^ (by Nancy White) She came to Toronto with her husband and her baby Looking for the good life, streets paved with gold Freedom of expression and a chicken in the pot She hoped she wouldn't mind the legendary cold He went to language school to learn a little English They told her he'd need it more than she ever will As soon as she had learned to say Hello, Goodbye and Thankyou she was working on Spadina in a textile mill (chorus) Sewing machines, sewing machines, Is that what freedom means? Sewing machines, sewing machines, Is that what freedom means? She gets up at five and puts the house in order Makes the lunch and breakfast, I takes the children to her neighbour Five to eight she clocks and goes to her machine Then it's thirteen hours of hard, hard labour He doesn't like her working but he doesn't help at home Men didn't do that in the old country And he goes out with friends, his wife's no longer fun She's always too tired to love him properly (chorus) (bridge) Whatever happened to my Maria? The shiny haired girl with the sparkling eyes I brought her here to this new land of plenty But she just won't Canadian-ize She doesn't learn English like the children and me She's always too tired but I think she's lazy Whatever happened to my Maria? I miss the light in her eye The factory is filthy, the wages are the lowest Sometimes talk of a union makes a stir But the boss just says, "Do you want to be deported?" She doesn't understand that he can't do that to her And so she works her life away without too much complaint After all, she got here; one of the lucky ones She sacrifices dignity, youth, health, and love To make a decent future for her daughter and her son (chorus) |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: rich-joy Date: 07 Feb 03 - 05:38 AM Cotton Mill Colic (as opposed to C M Girls) - it's in the DT too. Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts for Soldiers - by Darewski and Weston (1914) is also in the DT. Cheers! R-J |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: rich-joy Date: 07 Feb 03 - 05:51 AM there's also the Lowell Factory Girl lament (I have Peggy Seeger singing it on an LP) and the Ella Mae Wiggins' Mill Mother's lament ... versions of them are in Jerry Silverman's "The Liberated Woman's Songbook" Collier Books, 1971 - haven't checked to see if they're already in the DT though ... Cheers! R-J |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: cetmst Date: 07 Feb 03 - 06:52 AM In a previous thread - Mayn Ru'e Platz |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: Mr Happy Date: 07 Feb 03 - 06:58 AM there's some about the Belfast shirt factory too! |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,maire-aine at work Date: 07 Feb 03 - 09:25 AM Two songs come to my mind: BREAD & ROSES is one. The second one is a Si Kahn song called WHEN THE LAND AND THEY WERE YOUNG. It has a verse that goes "Young women fleeing Cossack raids, brought strong work-hardened hands, to run the mills and factories of a new and growing land. They gave their hands to strange machines, their lips to foreign tongues. They gave their youth to sweatshops when the land and they were young." |
Subject: Lyr Add: WOMEN OF DUNDEE (Sheena Wellington) From: GUEST,Mikey joe Date: 07 Feb 03 - 09:56 AM From the DT: WOMEN OF DUNDEE (Sheena Wellington) Now the men they werena lazy, but the work was hard tae find The Parish and the Means Test they'd to face, But a lassie"s hands are nimble, and a lassie's wage is sma So the women o Dundee worked in their place. Cho: And the wailin o the bummer and the clackin o the laims Brought the women o Dundee oot o their bed And they walked tae mills and factories And they rocht frae seevin tae fehv And the women kept the bairns o Dundee fed Now my mither an my granny an my aunties ain and a' Went tae the laims the day they left the skail They didna work for freedom, independence or the rest They jist worked tae get some kitchen tae their kail. Now the rhythm o their livin was the clackin o the laims Their youth an health an strength was lost tae jait But the weavers and the spinners and the winders o Dundee Had a spirit that the hard times never bait. Now you may boast a noble lineage and sing of your Highland clan And hail some gallant chief who shares your name But my line's as good as any and I'm very proud tae say It was fae a Dundee weaver that I came. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: JennyO Date: 07 Feb 03 - 10:00 AM A bit of background to BREAD AND ROSES - we sing this in the Solidarity Choir. There are two different tunes. We sing the Mimi Farina one. It can all be found in the DT. By the beginning of the twentieth century the industrialisation of Western Europe and the USA was bringing new social and political movements into world history. Trade Unions were making headway in a grim struggle to win for working people a fairer share of the benefits of industrialisation, and women too began to organise and campaign for their right to vote, and to earn a decent living from their work. Like today, many women were employed in the textile industry for very low wages. In 1912 during a massive strike in Lawrence Massachusetts a woman mill-worker carried a placard which read "We Want Bread! And Roses Too!!". The strike not only won important concessions from the wool companies, it also inspired James Oppenheim to write the poem "Bread And Roses". Jenny |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: wysiwyg Date: 07 Feb 03 - 11:42 AM The Anne Hills song mentioned above is Silken dreams, and although she sings it beautifully, I think she did not write it. In any event, it is posted in a thread with her name in the title (use Filter Search, with 2 years for age), and perhaps someone whose computer is working properly (mine ain't) will find it and link to it here. ~Susan |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,Q Date: 07 Feb 03 - 01:38 PM Silken Dreams, Anne Hills- thread 31856: Silken Dreams |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: John MacKenzie Date: 07 Feb 03 - 04:27 PM Song of the Shirt previously mentioned is one of my favourite poems, and I always meant to try setting it to music, but never got round to it. What do they say about procrastination being the theif of time? I also vaguely remember Mike Harding singing a song , called I think, The Land where Cotton was King. Giok |
Subject: Lyr Add: JINNY BOBBIN From: Trevor Date: 07 Feb 03 - 04:40 PM Is this any good for you? JINNY BOBBIN I was born on a Friday in a cotton shed A pile of rags was my birth bed Work was short and she'd little pay She was back at her loom the very next day So she called me Jinny Bobbin When I was five I went to school Earn your keep was the golden rule The shadow of the mill was laid Across the schoolyard where we played And they called me Jinny Bobbin When I was twelve I went in t'mill Bins of bobbins I'd to fill I was small but I did it with a will And they called me Jinny Bobbin At eighteen I'd four looms to keep I paid me way from week to week I met me lad as I danced one May And he danced and danced me heart away And he called me Jinny Bobbin We were walking out for nearly a year Times were good and I'd nowt to fear Then I found meself in the family way And I wed me lad one bright summer's day And he smiled on Jinny Bobbin The bairns came with the passing years Then the war changed our smiles to tears The lads came marching back from France But my lad lay where he'll no more dance Far away from Jinny Bobbin Now I work in't mill and me lasses too They've bairns of their own so they have to do And I think back of the work I've done And I wonder where the years have gone From the life of Jinny Bobbin I remember the days when times were hard And dust lay thick on the old mill yard And I think of the faces that I've seen That have passed away like a morning dream Through the life of Jinny Bobbin Now I think of the friends that I have known Who've lived out life just like me own And that's me story, I know it's not much But I can tell you of many a thousand such With lives like Jinny Bobbin That's the life of Jinny Bobbin |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: GUEST,Q Date: 07 Feb 03 - 05:04 PM Cotton Jenny, Gordon Lightfoot. In Cowpie. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: nutty Date: 07 Feb 03 - 06:00 PM I found the thread I was looking for ....... Song of the Shirt |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: bfolkemer Date: 07 Feb 03 - 09:24 PM Many thanks to all of you who responded!! What a wealth of material. Since there are some songs that are about stitchers (as opposed to weavers), we'll probably choose one of those. I think I'll be considering some others for general use. Thank you again! Beth |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about women in sewing factories From: Mad Tom Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:20 AM How about Kurt Weill's "Aggie's Sewing Machine"? |
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