DTStudy: Hold the Fort

Subject: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 09:32 PM

This is an edited DTStudy thread, and all messages posted here are subject to editing and deletion.
This thread is intended to serve as a forum for corrections and annotations for the Digital Tradition song named in the title of this thread.

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I found a very nice video of the song "Hold the Fort," so I figured it was time to explore the versions of this song that we have in the Digital Tradition.
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWBH71UDFM

Here's the first DT Version:

HOLD THE FORT

chorus: Hold the fort, for we are coming
Union men be strong!
Side by side we battle onward,
Victory will come.

We meet today in Freedom's cause
And raise our voices high;
We'll join our hands in union strong
To battle or to die.

Look, my comrades, see the union
Banners flying high;
Reinforcements now appearing
Victory is nigh.

See our numbers still increasing
Hear the bugles blow;
By our union we shall triumph
Over every foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages
But we will not fear,
Help will come whene'er it's needed,
Cheer, my comrades, cheer.

A political rewrite of an 1870 gospel song by Bliss; circulated
by the Knights of Labor ca. 1890.
@work @union @struggle
filename[ HOLDFORT
TUNE FILE: HOLDFORT
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

Popup Midi Player

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 09:37 PM

And the second DT version:

HOLD THE FORT (2)
(P.P.Bliss)

Ho! My comrades, see the signal
Waving in the sky!
Reinforcements now appearing
Victory is nigh!

cho: "Hold the fort, for I am coming!"
Jesus signals still,
Wave the answer back to Heaven
"By Thy grace, we will!"

See the mighty host advancing,
Satan leading on;
Mighty men around us falling
Courage almost gone.

See the glorious banner waving
Hear the bugle blow!
In our Leader's name we'll triumph
Over ev'ry foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages,
But our Help is near;
Onward comes our great Commander
Cheer, my comrades, cheer!

From Singing Soldiers, Glass.
Note (ibid) :In the 1880 edition of this song, the incident upon
which is is based was recorded by Major Whittle. During October,
1864, a strategic position at Altoona Pass was being held by
General Corse of Illinois. The Union Garrison was outnumbered and
surrounded, and the Confederate General French summoned the
Yankees to surrender. When Corse refused, fierce fighting ensued,
and he was forced to the crest of the hill. The situation seemed
hopeless, until a Union officer caught sight of a signal flag
across the valley atop Kenesaw Mountain. The signal was answered,
and soon the message was waved from mountain to mountain: "Hold
the fort, for I am coming W.T. Sherman." Cheers went up and,
under murderous fire, the position was held. Within three hours,
Sherman's advance guard had forced the Confederates to retreat.

@war @Civil @American @hymn
filename[ HOLDFRT2
TUNE FILE: HOLDFORT
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

Popup Midi Player

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 09:40 PM

https://unionsong.com/u511.html

https://unionsong.com/u511.html

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 09:57 PM

The song is on page 67 of my 1956 reprint of the 1948 People's Song Book:

HOLD THE FORT

We meet today in freedom's cause
And raise our voices high;
We'll join our hands in union strong
To battle or to die.

CHORUS
Hold the fort, for we are coming
Union men, be strong!
Side by side we battle onward,
Victory will come.

Look, my comrades, see the union,
Banners flying high;
Reinforcements now appearing;
Victory is nigh.
CHORUS

See our numbers still increasing,
Hear the bugles blow;
By our union we shall triumph
Over every foe.
CHORUS

British transport workers' song
Music: An old hymn tune

Notes: This song, along with "Solidarity," has become one of the favorites of American workers. Originally an English transport workers' strike song, set to an old gospel hymn, it has been sung on picket lines and at union meetings throughout this country for more than twenty years.


(The People's Song Book does not have this verse)
Fierce and long the battle rages
But we will not fear,
Help will come whene'er it's needed,
Cheer, my comrades, cheer.

Subject: ADD Version:: Hold the Fort
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 10:12 PM

HOLD THE FORT
(words by British Transport Workers Union)

We meet today in freedom's cause and raise our voices high;
We'll join our hands in union strong to battle or to die.

CHORUS
Hold the fort for we are coming, Unionists be strong.
Side by side we battle onward, victory will come.

Look my comrades, see the union banners waving high.
Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh.

See our numbers still increasing; hear the bugles blow.
By our union we shall triumph over every foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages, but we will not fear,
Help will come whene'er it's needed, cheer, my comrades, cheer.


About 1870 "Hold the Fort" was written by Bliss as a U.S. gospel song. Based on an incident in the U.S. Civil War. It was made into a labor song by the Knights of Labor {the Knights advocated an alliance of producer and consumer cooperatives as an alternative to industrial capitalism.) The song was cast into its present form by the British Transport Workers about 1890.



Source: The Little Red Songbook 36th Edition, 1995, published by the Industrial Workers of the World, Ypsilanti, Michigan. (page 92)

First published in the 8th edition, 1914

I think these lyrics are exactly the same lyrics that are in the Digital Tradition.

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Feb 21 - 05:17 AM

interesting. My Grandmother used to sing this song. Not asa union song - just a hymn.

Subject: ADD Version: Hold the Fort (from Walter Pardon)
From: GUEST,Mike Yates
Date: 15 Feb 21 - 06:52 AM

I recorded a version of this song from the Norfolk singer Walter Pardon. His text was:


HOLD THE FORT

We Meet Today on Freedom’s Cause
We meet today in freedom’s cause
And raise our banners high.
We join our hands in Union song
To battle or to die.

CHORUS
Hold the fort, we are coming,
Union men be strong.
Side by side, keep pressing onward,
Victory will come.

Look my comrade see the Union
Banner waving high.
Reinforcements are appearing
Victory is nigh.

See our numbers still increasing
Hear the bugle blow
By our Union we shall triumph
Over every foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages
But we do not fear.
Help will come whenever it’s needed
Cheer, my comrades, cheer.


The song is mentioned in my article ‘Walter Pardon – the socio-political songs’ (Musical Traditions on-line magazine article number 54) together with this note:

‘In 1906, George Edwards, another Norfolk man, founded the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers' and Small Holders' Union, the forerunner of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers. Several members of Walter's family, including his father and Uncle Billy, joined the Trunch branch of the Union; and Walter remembers three songs from this period. All three appeared in an undated song book, 'National Agricultural Labourers' and Rural Workers' Union Song Book' (Caxton Press, Maddermarket, Norwich), a copy of which was owned by (Walter’s) Uncle Billy. The booklet contains words to the following twenty six songs:

•        Lift Up the People's Banner (Lift up the people's banner/Now trailing in the dust) Tune: Ellacombe.
•        Strong Human Love (Strong human love! within whose steadfast will/Is always peace) Tune: Lead Kindly Light.
•        Onward, Friends of Freedom (Toilers of the nation/Thinkers of the time) Tune: Onward Christian Soldiers.
•        O Beautiful, My Country (O beautiful, my country/Be thine a nobler care) Tune: Missionary.
•        England Arise! (England arise, the long, long night is over/Faint in the east behold the dawn appear) Composer: Edward Carpenter.
•        Sons of Labour (Sons of labour keep ye moving/Onward in the march of mind) Tune: Bright the Vision that Delighted. Austria.
•        The Watchword (Shout the union cry, for the foe is nigh/Now's the time to fight for the cause) Tune: Sound the Battle Cry. Composer: R G.
•        Sons of Labour (Sons of labour, who've been battling/With the hunger moil of years) Tune: Hark the Gospel News is Sounding. Composer: R G.
•        The Coming of the Light (Hark, the sound of many voices proclaim the dawn of day/And in the glow of morning the shadows ( fade away) Tune: The Wearing of the Green. Composer: D J Nicholl.
•        Come Friends, the World Wants Mending (Come friends the world wants mendlng/Let none sit down and rest) Tune: We plough the fields and scatter.
•        Men Whose Boast it is that Ye (Men whose boast it is that ye/Come of fathers brave and free) Tune: Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
•        The Marseillaise (You sons of freedom, wake to glory/Hark! Hark! what myriads bid you rise) Words and Tune by Rouget de Lisle, 1792. (Translated by R B Sheridan).
•        The Union's Light (Stand up, ye men of labour/Who toil upon the Land) Tune: Stand Up for Jesus.
•        We Meet Today in Freedom's Cause (We meet today in freedom's cause/And raise our voices high) Tune: Hold the Fort.
•        Now Sound Ye Forth (Now sound ye forth with trumpet tone/Let all the nations fear) Tune: Ellacombe.
•        Forward All Ye Workers (Forward, all ye workers/In one cause combined) Tune: St Gertrude (Onward, Christian Soldiers).
•        Stand Like the Brave (O Workman, awake, for the strife is at hand/With right on your side, then with hope firmly stand).
•        The Old Man's Advice (My grandfather worked when he was very young/And his parents felt grieved that he should) Tune: Grandfather's Clock.
•        Hark! The Battle Cry (Hark! the battle cry is ringing Hope, within our bosom springing) Tune: Men of Harlech.
•        Come Gather, O People (Come gather, O people, for soon is the hour When princes must fall with their pomp and their power) Tune: Hearts of Oak.
•        The Fine Old English Labourer (Come lads and listen to my song, a song of hearty toil/'Tis of the English labourer, the tiller of the soil) Tune: The Fine Old Gentleman.
•        A National Anthem (God save the working man/Peasant or artisan).
•        Till We Meet Again (God be with you till we meet again/May your lot in life be brighter).
•        The Land Song (Sound the blast of Freedom boys and send it far and ide/March along to Victory for God is on our side).
•        The Red Flag (The People's flag is deepest red/It shrouded oft our martyred dead) Tune: The White Cockade, or, Maryland. Composer: J Connell.
•        When Wilt Thou Save Thy People? (When wilt Thou save Thy people/O, God of Mercy, when?) Tune: Commonwealth.’

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: GUEST,#
Date: 15 Feb 21 - 10:05 AM

https://sites.google.com/a/workersunion.org.tt/national-workers-union/songs-of-struggle/hold-the-fort

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: GUEST,#
Date: 15 Feb 21 - 10:16 AM

The following article is extensive but worth the read if one is so inclined.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hold_the_Fort!/Union_Hall_and_Picket_Line

Subject: RE: DTStudy: Hold the Fort
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 17 Feb 21 - 10:59 AM



Hold The Fort was one of the English language songs printed in the songbook “Canciones De Las Brigadas Internacionales" produced by the famous German singer Ernst Busch to enable the International brigaders to sing each others songs during the Spanish Civil War. It was published in 1938 in Barcelona.The lyrics given in Canciones de Las Brigadas Internacionales are the same as the first three verses given above by Joe Offer from The People’s Songbook. There are lots of performances of the song on Youtube