Solidarity Forever

DESCRIPTION: The crimes of the corporations and their bosses are described. But the workers can protect themselves, as the chorus notes: "Solidarity forever (x3), For the union makes us strong."
AUTHOR: Words: Ralph Chaplin
EARLIEST DATE: 1915
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad political work derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 282-283, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 91, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, p. 181, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 374-375, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 133, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 176-177, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text, 1 tune, an adaption by "Scottie" to the conditions in Butte 1917)
DT, SOLIDART*
ADDITIONAL: Kristina Horton, _Martyr of Loray Mill: Ella May and the 1929 Textile Workers' Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina_, McFarland & Company, 2015, p. 190, "Solidarity Forever" (1 text)
Roud #15158
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger , "Solidarity Forever" (on PeteSeeger1, PeteSeeger48)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "Solidarity Forever (Montana Version)"
NOTES [75 words]: The Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest is a clear rewrite, and is specific to conditions in Butte, Montana in 1917 -- but it keeps the chorus, and it's a labor song, and it surely was never remembered outside that context, so I've filed it here. Particularly since Ralph Chaplin would have encouraged the local use of his song. It is interesting that it was popular enough to be parodied as early as 1917, when the song was still very new. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: SBoA282

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