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Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'

Bearheart 16 Jan 25 - 09:14 AM
GUEST,Berkshire Haddaway 16 Jan 25 - 10:26 AM
Bearheart 16 Jan 25 - 01:17 PM
robomatic 16 Jan 25 - 01:52 PM
gillymor 16 Jan 25 - 03:09 PM
Robert B. Waltz 16 Jan 25 - 03:11 PM
robomatic 17 Jan 25 - 02:15 PM
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Subject: Lyr Req: Labor Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: Bearheart
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 09:14 AM

So friends on Facebook were talking about Musk, and one said something about how much he"earns" ($43,000 per minute), and some of us were questioning the use of that term. People were suggesting "grab" or "confiscate" or "acquire".

I am pretty sure there is a labor union song that refers to one of the ultra rich of bygone eras as "stealing" from the workers. (There might be several). That seemed a much more apt term to me.

But my 70 year old brain is having trouble retrieving it.

Can anyone help me? Since several of the posters are folk musicians, I'd like to add that to the conversation.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: GUEST,Berkshire Haddaway
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 10:26 AM

From "Solidarity Forever" as by Pete Seeger:

It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made
But the union makes us strong

[...]

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: Bearheart
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 01:17 PM

Thank you!

I was thinking that there is a song that actually says the rich steal from the working folks, but this is very good.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: robomatic
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 01:52 PM

I'm sure this is available in its original form within Mudcat's halls and alcoves, but in an ancient Perry Mason, a sailor repetitively sings:

"It's the same the 'ole world over
It's the poor wot gets the blame
It's the rich wot gets the gravy
'Cor ayn't it a bloomin' shame!"


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: gillymor
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 03:09 PM

There's that line from Woody Guthrie's Pretty Boy Floyd that goes-
As through this world I ramble,
I meet a lot of funny men,
Some rob you with a six gun,
Some with a fountain pen.

It should be in the DT.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 03:11 PM

robomatic wrote:

"It's the same the 'ole world over
It's the poor wot gets the blame
It's the rich wot gets the gravy
'Cor ayn't it a bloomin' shame!"


A verse (one of hundreds if not thousands) from "She Was Poor But She Was Honest," also known as "It's the Sime the Whole World Over" ("Sime" sometimes being spelled "syme"). There are, I believe, five different DT texts, including

IT'S THE SAME THE WHOLE WORLD OVER (3)
IT'S THE SAME THE WHOLE WORLD OVER 4
IT'S THE SYME THE 'OLE WORLD OVER

(Don't ask me where #1 and #2 went. Probably filed under "She Was Poor....")

So there are plenty of other verses where your one stanza came from. :-)


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Union songs referring to 'steal'
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 02:15 PM

Thank you Robert! That "She was poor but she was honest" rang a bell!


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