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Build High the Bridge - Ronnie Gilbert & Jeff Langley

from When We Stand Together by Magpie

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about

Famed as a member of the Weavers in the nineteen fifties, Ronnie Gilbert continued singing long after the group broke up. She also co-wrote and performed a one-woman musical portrait of Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. This song is from that show, and is sung in the voice of Mother Jones. When we first heard it, we thought it was one of the greatest union songs we had ever heard.
Mother Jones is generally regarded as one of the greatest Labor organizers and activists in history, as well as a tireless advocate for the eradication and prohibition of child labor. She was a member of the Knights of Labor, a co-founder of the IWW, and while she supported and advocated union organizing in many industries, she devoted most of her life to the cause of fellow workers in the coal mines of America through the UMW. She was once called “the most dangerous woman in America” by a West Virginia district attorney. She died November 30, 1930 in Silver Spring, Maryland at the age of 93, although it was widely believed, erroneously, that she was several years older.

lyrics

Do you wonder at the life that you are living?
And do you ask, why must it be this way?
Have you sat down with your neighbor who labors at your side And dared to speak of a new and brighter day?
Are your children ignorant and hungry?
And can you stand it? Oh, tell me how you can
How long will you wait to take what’s rightly yours
To change your fate, every woman, every man?

Build high the bridge from span to span
Look up fellow workers, the moment’s now at hand Join your comrades on the line and don’t let them fall For in Union there is hope for one and all

Were you born a native to this country
Or were you born somewhere in foreign parts?
What happened to the promise that brought you cross the sea With the flame of freedom burning in your hearts?
It was dignity and hope they said you’d find here
If you would join in the building of the land
But the barons of gold like the barons of old
Keep you poor and chained like serfs at their command

Whose strong hands dig the black gold from the mountain? Who tills the soil, runs the foundry and the mill?
Don’t you know my friends you’ve just to stand your ground And fold your arms, and the whole wide world stands still

Build high the bridge from span to span
Look up fellow workers, the moment’s now at hand Join your comrades on the line and don’t let them fall For in Union there’s a place for all
Yes in Union there is strength for all
Build a union with hope for one and all

credits

from When We Stand Together, released July 23, 2022
lyrics by Ronnie Gilbert, music by Jeff Langley

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James Connolly Upstate NY IWW image

James Connolly Upstate NY IWW Albany, New York

The James Connolly Upstate NY IWW branch is a union for all workers based in NY. Musicians and other workers wishing to organize can find us here upstatenyiww.wordpress.com/contact/

Our benefit album is out May 31st. Support our organizing workers! ... more

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