This Land is Your Land
written by Woody Guthrie
TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)
Produced by John McCutcheon

As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest, to the gulfstream waters
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
Ohhh, it said, "This land was made for you and me."

And the sun came shining, as we were strolling
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting
It said, "This land was made for you and me."

Chorus
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York island
From the redwood forest, to the gulfstream waters
This land was made for you and me

Was a great high wall there that tried to stop me
And a great big sign that said private property
On the other side, it didn’t say nothing
That side was made for you and me

In the city square, in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office, I saw my people
As they stood there hungry, I kept asking,
"Was this land made for you and me?"

Chorus

We’ll keep on working, we’ll keep on singing
Until those freedom bells are ringing
From the highest mountains, to the deepest sea
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

Nobody living can ever stop me
as I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can ever turn me back,
This land was made for you me

Chorus

Reflections of Woody Guthrie
excerpts from the writings of Woody Guthrie

"I hate a song that makes you think you’re not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you’re just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you’re too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or songs that poke fun of you on account of your bad luck or your hard travelling.

I’m out to fight these songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood.

I’m out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter how hard it’s run you down nor rolled over you, no matter what color, what size you are or how your built, I’m out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you.

I could hire out to the other side, the big money side. Get several dollars every week just to quit singing my own kind of song and to sing the kind that knock you down still farther, the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that don’t make you think you not got any sense at all. But I decided a long time ago that I’d starve to death before I’d sing any such songs as that.

The radio waves and your movies and your jukeboxes and your songbooks are already loaded down and running over with such no good songs as that anyhow."
     -Woody Guthrie

If I Had A Hammer
Pete Seeger and Lee Hays
TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

We hold these truths to be self evident that all men and women are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator to certain, inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
     - the Declaration of Independence

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening all over this land
I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning
I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning,
I’d ring it in the evening all over this land
I’d ring out danger, I’d ring out a warning
I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a song, I’d sing it in the morning
I’d sing it in the evening all over this land
I’d sing out the danger, I’d sing out a warning
I’d sing about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
your wretched refuse of your teaming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
       - Inscription of the Statue of Liberty by Emma Lazarus

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening all over this land
I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning
I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning,
I’d ring it in the evening all over this land
I’d ring out the danger, I’d ring out a warning
I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a song, I’d sing it in the morning
I’d sing it in the evening all over this land
I’d sing out the danger I’d sing out a warning
I’d sing about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that an arms truth and unconditional love will have the final word."
     - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Well, I’ve got a hammer and I’ve got a bell and I’ve got a song
To sing all over this land
It’s a hammer of justice, it’s the bell of freedom it’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land
All over this land
It’s a hammer of justice, it’s the bell of freedom it’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land
All over this land

"Where after all the human rights begin, in small places close to home. So close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Unless those rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere."
      -Eleanor Roosevelt

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent."
       -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Everyday People
written by Sylvester Stewart
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Co. obo Mijac Music
Produced by Linda Tillery and Leib Ostrow

Oooh sha sha
Oooh sha sha
Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the baker, drummer and then
makes no difference what group I’m in
I am everyday people
I am everyday people
There is a blue who can’t accept the green one
for living with a black one, trying to be a skinny one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby

Oooh sha sha
We got to live together
Oooh sha sha liiiiiiiiveee with your bad self

I am no better and neither are you
We oughta say what ever we choose
You love me you hate to know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag I’m in
I am everyday people
There is a long one that doesn’t like the short one,
for being such a rich one that will not help the poor one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby

Oooh sha sha
We got to live together

There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
that won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby

Oooh sha sha
We got to live together
[RAP]
Standing on the boulevard and watching folks pass.
Seeing all types of people seeing all types of class
Thinkin’ the one thing to remember most in our life
Is we are all created equal in all walks of life
God made it that way
We came to show him that, hey, we can all get along across the USA.
All the colors segregate lets integrate not hate
‘Cuz if we all work together then this world will be great
Well, we now need to do it fast before it gets too late.
Wherever we are, where we’re going, no time to debate
Mistakes will happen, the jaws of the snake keep snapping
This message is strong
People need to get along

I am everyday people
I am everyday people

Liiiiiiiive! With your bad self

The Ballad Of The Underground Railroad
Charles L. Blockson Temple University
From The Afro-American Collection

The Underground Train,
Strange as it seems,
Carried many passengers,
And never was seen.

It wasn’t made of wood,
It wasn’t made of steel,
A man-made train that
Ran without wheels.

The train was known
By many a name,
But the greatest of all
Was "The Freedom Train."

The Quakers, the Indians,
Gentiles and Jews,
Were some of the people
Who made up the crews.

Free Blacks and Christians
And Atheists too,
Were the rest of the people
Who made up the crews.

Conductors and agents
Led the way by night,
Guiding the train
By the North Star Light

The passengers were
The fugitive slaves
Running from slavery
And its evil ways.

Running from the whip
And the overseer,
From the slave block
And the auctioneer.

They didn’t want their masters
To catch them again,
So the men dressed as women
And the women as men.

They hid in churches,
Cellars and barns,
Waiting to hear the
Train’s alarm.

Sleeping by day,
And traveling by night,
Was the best way they knew
To keep out of sight.

They waded in the waters
To hide their scent,
And fool those bloodhounds
The slavemasters sent.

They spoke in riddles
And sang in codes,
To understand the message,
You had to be told.

Those who knew the secret
Never did tell
The sacred message
Of the "Freedom Train’s" bell.

Riding this train
Broke the laws of the land,
But the laws of God
Are higher than man’s.

Follow the Drinking Gourd
Orig. Arr. By Linda Tillery and Eric Bibb
Tuizer Music (ASCAP) and Heavy Rotation Music

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awaitin’ for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd

Chorus
Follow, follow the drinking gourd
Follow, follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awatin for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd

Oh, well the riverbanks make a mighty true lure,
dead trees mocked away
The left foot, peg foot travelling on
Follow the drinking gourd

Chorus
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awaitin’ for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
Yeah yeah

Where the river ends between two hills, follow the drinking gourd
There the old man is awaitin’ for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd

Chorus
Follow, follow the drinking gourd
Follow, follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is awaitin’ to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd

For the old man is a waitin’ for to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd

The Story of Claudette Colvin
As told by Awele Makeba
© Awele Makeba

We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Oh deep in my heart I do believe
That we shall overcome some day

Hi, I’m Claudette Colvin. I’m 15 and a sophomore at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery, Alabama in the Deep South. On March 2, 1955 when I refused to give up my bus seat, I knew I could get arrested. The bus driver and the police thought it was about a bus seat. It wasn’t. Umm, um. It was about standing up about what’s right. It was about standing up and changing things. It was about fighting racism and violence against black people. We just wanted our full citizenship and humanity. I learned that we have to stand up for ourselves and for other people so that we can make this world a better place for everyone. I didn’t want to be a bystander so I stood up for what was right. March 2nd, after school about 4 p.m., I paid my dime at the front of the Highland Gardens Avenue bus and quickly made my way to the back door with the rest of the colored kids so the driver wouldn’t pull off before we got on. There weren’t any white people on the bus mostly school kids. The colored section in the back was full so I sat in the middle section, last row on the left by the window.

"Give me those seats."

There was no where to move to. Slowly but surely black folks stood up. Whites sat in the vacant seats. My row, the last row stayed seated. I just stared straight ahead.

"Make light on your feet."

The girl next to me and the other two across on the other aisle, they stood immediately. I just looked forward – stared straight ahead. I knew the city law said it was OK to sit in the middle section. White people began to stare at me.

"She knows where she belongs. I hope she’s not one of them troublemakers."

Troublemaker, me, a troublemaker? Just because of how I’m born. I’m a troublemaker.

"Sir, I paid my fair, I’m not gonna get up. You have no right to ask me."

"Gal, if you don’t get up right now, I’m gonna call the police. No right to ask me."

The police came on the bus.

"Sir, I didn’t know it was the law that a colored person had to get up and give a white person their seat, when there no more vacant seats and colored people are standing up already. That’s not what the city law says.

"Get up girl."

"No, sir, I paid my dime. I paid my fare. Now, It’s my right, my constitutional right. You have no right to ask me. I’m an American, a citizen of the United States. Just read the 13th and the 14th Amendment, it will tell you so. My literature class, we been studying the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Miss Nesbitt teaching us all about the law. I know about the law. I’m going to be a lawyer one day, this is not right, it’s not fair, I refuse to be treated like a second class citizen."

They grabbed me and dragged me off the bus.

At jail, they charged me with violating the segregation law, disorderly conduct, assault and resisting arrest. Mary Louise Smith, another teenager, and me, two other ladies, well, we challenged the state segregation code in the federal court case, Broeder Vs Gayle. We volunteered because we had the courage to stand up for what’s right, no matter what other people said I did. Folks said that I was the star witness for that federal court case. Our case, it went all the way to the top court, the Supreme Court of the United States and a landmark decision was made that ended segregation on Montgomery, Alabama city buses. We won, ordinary people, we won an impossible victory. I just wanted to stand up for what was right. Just like Mrs. Rosa Parks who was arrested nine months after me. I make a difference. Well, not everybody can be a hero, but we all can stand up for what’s right.
And by the way, Mrs. Rosa Parks, she was the first woman to join the NAACP in Montgomery, Alabama. She became the secretary and the director of the youth council. She refused to give up her seat not because her feet hurt, but because she was tired of being disrespected and tired of being mistreated. She was sick and tired of being tired. She made a difference too, and she helped a lot of people stand up for what was right.

Sister Rosa Parks
by The Neville Brothers
D. Johnson, C. Moore, C. Neville, C. Neville, Jr., J. Neville
L. Neville Irving Music, Inc. obo Neville Music, Inc.
Johnson Music; Wm. Claffey & Associates
(p) 1989 A&M Records
Courtesy of A&M Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

December 1, 1955, our freedom movement came alive. And because of Sister Rosa you know, we don’t ride on the back of the bus no more.

Sister Rosa Parks was tired one day
after a hard day on her job.
When all she wanted was a well deserved rest
Not a scene from an angry mob.
A bus driver said, "Lady, you got to get up
cuz a white person wants that seat."
But Miss Rosa said, "No, not no more.
I’m gonna sit here and rest my feet."

Chorus
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
Thank you Miss Rosa you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.

Now, the police came without fail
And took Sister Rosa off to jail.
And 14 dollars was her fine,
Brother Martin Luther King
knew it was our time.
The people of Montgomery sit down to talk
It was decided all gods’ children should walk
Until segregation was brought to its knees
And we obtain freedom and equality, yeah

Chorus
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
We’ll sing it again
Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.

So we dedicate this song to thee
for being the symbol of our dignity.
Thank Sister Rosa Parks.
Chorus 2x

Calypso Freedom
by Sweet Honey In The Rock
Original tune, "The Banana Boat Song" from Jamaica
New Arr. By Bernice Johnson Reagon & Evelyn Maria Harris
Songtalk Publishing

Freedom, freedom now
Freedom has come and it won’t be long
Freedom, give us freedom, now
Freedom has come and it won’t be long

Well I took a trip on a greyhound bus
I got to fight segregation now this we must
I got to fight segregation around the nation
We gotta keep fighting all around the world

Well, I took a trip down to Alabama way
Oooh and met a lot of violence on Mother’s Day
I ain’t scared of no violence
No, I wont
I gotta keep on a fighting

Well, on to Mississippi with speed we go
Of the blue shirted policemen they meet us at the door.
But I ain’t’ scared of no policemen, they don’t scare me, no
It’s a coming and it won’t be long
They can wear blue shirts or black shirts, any color shirts, I don’t care.

Well, you can hinder me here; you can hinder me there
But I go right down on my knees and pray
Yes I will pray for freedom, I will sing for freedom
I keep fighting for freedom, I keep marching for freedom.

My freedom is a comin’ and it won’t be long
My freedom is a comin’ and it won’t be long

Human Family
by Maya Angelou
©1990 Maya Angelou
Recorded by permission of The Helen Brann Agency, Inc.

‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free
‘Tis a gift to come around where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in a place just right
We will be in a valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed
To turn, to turn will be a delight
Until by turning and turning we come round right.

I note the obvious differences
In the human family.
Some of us are serious,
Some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
As true profundity.
And others claim they really live,
The real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
Can confuse, bemuse, delight,
Brown and pink and beige and purple,
Tan and blue and white.

I’ve sailed upon the seven seas
And stopped in every land.
I’ve seen the wonders of the world,
Not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
Called Jane and Mary Jane.
But I’ve not seen any two,
Who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
Although their features jibe.
And lovers think quite different thoughts,
While lying side by side.

We love and lose in China
We weep on England’s moors.
And laugh and moan in Guinea,
And thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland
Are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
In major we’re the same.

I note the obvious differences
Between each sort and type.
But we are more alike, my friends,
Than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
Than we are unalike.
We are more alike, my friends,
Than we are unalike.

Like Me and You
by Raffi
arranged by Raffi and Ken Whiteley
Published by Troubadour Records
Courtesy of Rounder Records Corp.
One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 for the U.S.A.

Janet lives in England; Pierre lives in Paris
Bonnie lives in Canada; Ahmed lives in Egypt
Moshed lives in Israel; Bruce lives in Australia
Ching lives in China; Olga lives in Russia,
Ingrid lives in Germany; Gita lives in India
Pablo lives in Spain; Jose lives in Columbia

Chorus
And each one is much like another,
a child of a mother and a father
A very special son or daughter,
a lot like me and you

Koji lives in Japan; Nina lives in Chile
Farida lives in Pakistan; Zocha lives in Poland
Manuel lives in Brazil; Maria lives in Italy
Kofi lives in Ghana; Rahim lives in Iran
Rosa lives in Paraguay; Najee lives in Kenya
Dimitri lives in Greece; Sue lives in America

Chorus

Anishinabe [the people]
by Bill Miller
written by Lisa Silverand Dennis Scott
©1995 WarnerActive Songs, Inc. obo itself and
Sweet Silver Music (ASCAP) and Bro ‘n’ Sis Music, Inc. (BMI)

I ride with my father down the river
In a birch bark canoe he made last year
I hold my paddle strong through the rapids
And we float through the valley of the deer

One sky above us
One people below
We carry on as the rivers flow

Chorus
Anishinabe ma-nee-ta-haem
These simple words we love to sing
When we are together under the stars
Anishinabe ma-nee-ta-haem
Today has been a wonderful day
The people we feel good in our hearts

I walk with my mother in the morning
As the plants the seeds that bring the fields of corn
She tells me many stories of the people
And the life they lived before I was born

One sky above us
One people below
We carry on, as the grasses will grow

Chorus 2x

The people we feel good in our hearts

Somos El Barco
by John McCutcheon
Lorre Charles Wyatt
Roots & Branches Music, Courtesy of Rounder Records Corp.
One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 for the U.S.A.

The stream sings it to the river
the river sings it to the sea,
The sea sings it to the boat
that carries you and me

We are the boat
We are the sea
I sail in you
You sail in me

The boat we are sailing in
Is built by many hands
The sea we are sailing on
touches every land

We are the boat
We are the sea
I sail in you
You sail in me

So with our hopes
We raise the sails
Face the winds once more
And with our hearts
We chart the waters
Never sailed before

We are the boat
We are the sea
I sail in you
You sail in me

Dreams of Harmony
by Freyda Epstein
Joanne Olshansky Hammil
©1988 JHO Music (BMI)

Wherever you rest your
head tonight
We are all one family
Let’s hold tight
and fill the world with
dreams of harmony
tonight
Wherever you rest your
head tonight
We are all one family
Let’s hold tight
and fill the world with
dreams of harmony tonight

Good night,
Bonne Nuit (French),
O Yasu Mina Sai (Japanese)
Buenos Noches (Spanish)
La La Salama ((Swahili)
Wan An (Chinese)
Spokonia Nochee (Russian)
Guttenacht (German)
Ly La Tov (Hebrew)

Wherever you rest your head tonight
We are all one family lets hold tight
and fill the world with dreams of harmony tonight

no matter what words you say… goodnight
no matter what words you say… goodnight
no matter what words you say…goodnight
repeat

end