Almanac Singers "Whide Side Are You On?"
Written by Florence Reece




Come all of you good workers -
Good news to you I'll tell,
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.

CHORUS:

Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

(Repeat after each verse)

My daddy was a miner,
And I'm a miner's son.
And I'll stick with the union
'Til every battle's won.

They say in Harlan County,
There are no neutrals there.
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair.

Oh workers can you stand it -
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Don't scab for the bosses -
Don't listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven't got a chance
Unless we organize.


Also included on their Talking Union album, the Almanacs adapted this song by Florence Reece, wife of a coal miner in Harlan County, Kentucky, written during a violent strike in 1931. It was quickly picked up by northern radicals sympathetic to the strikers.

Illustration: Songs of the Almanac Singers (Bob Miller, 1942)
 

© Copyright Labor Arts Inc.