Roll the Union On

DESCRIPTION: "We're going to roll, we're going to roll, we're going to roll the union on." Verse: "If the (boss, scabs, etc.) get(s) in the way, we're going to roll right over him (them)...we're going to roll the union on"
AUTHOR: Probably John Handcock/Handcox
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (recording, John Handcock)
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad boss scab worker
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, ROLUNION*
RECORDINGS:
John Handcock, "Going to Roll the Union On" (AFS 3237 A2, 1937)
Pete Seeger & Chorus, "Roll the Union On" (on PeteSeeger01)

NOTES [57 words]: John Handcox (with an X) was a sharecropper and organizer; he apparently based the song on the hymn "Roll the Chariot On" (which seems to be not the same as "We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along" as found in Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag; they share a verse, but not the tune or meter). I have been unable to find a copy of "Roll the Chariot On". - PJS
File: DTroluni

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