SONGS & CHANTS
SONGS | CHANTS
Arise! Arise!Ain't Gonna Let Nobody
Ain't gonna let nobody / turn
me around / turn me around/ turn me around / Ain't gonna let nobody / turn me
around, / Gonna keep on a-walkin' / keep on a-talkin', / Gonna build a better
world.
Ain't gonna let no racism...
no sexism...homophobia... no bullies...no felons…no ICE…no ignorance
"Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round" is a traditional African American spiritual turned Civil Rights Movement anthem, rooted in older spirituals like "Don't You Let Nobody Turn You Round".
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Arise! Arise!
Atlantic and Pacific flow / The
Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico / The land between sustains us all / To
cherish it, our tireless call
Arise! Arise! / I see the
future in your eyes. / To a more perfect union we aspire / And lift our voices
from the fire.
We reached these shores from
many lands / We came with hungry hearts and hands / Some came by force and some
by will / At the auction block, in the darkened mill
We died in your fields and
your factories / Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees / With an old coat
hanger in a room somewhere / A trail of tears, an electric chair
Our great responsibility / To
be guardians of our liberty / 'Till tyrants bow to the people's dream / And
justice flows like a mighty stream
"Arise, Arise" written by Jean Rohe, has been proposed as a stirring, truth-telling new “National Anthem Go to Index
Bella Ciao
Oh we are women, / and
we are marching, / oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao, / we
are marching for liberation, we’re going to take our rights right now!
Oh
we are mothers, and we are caring….
Oh
we are fathers, and we are crying….
Oh
we are children, and we are dreaming….
Oh
we are mothers, and we are caring….
Oh
we are workers, and we are building….
Oh we are lovers, and
we are longing….
"Bella Ciao" originated as a late 19th-century Italian folk song, likely sung by mondine (rice paddy workers) in Northern Italy to protest harsh working conditions. It was later adapted by Italian partisans as an anti-fascist resistance anthem during WWII, and became a global symbol of freedom.
Every Woman
Every
woman who ever loved a woman / You oughta stand up and call her name: / Mama —
Sister — Daughter — Lover / Every woman who ever loved a woman / You oughta
stand up and call her name
Mama held me in my joy and pain / Mama walked heavy in my
life / Mama labored so that my life / would be longer and fuller than hers / and I love you, woman
Sister and me playing hide and seek / Sister and me fighting
mad sometime / But when the world turned against me / with a disapproving frown / It was Sister
put the ground back under my feet / and I love you, woman
Ah child, you look a lot like me, but you’re / stronger and
taller and faster, I see / I hope that this world / will be ready for you / and
I love you, woman
Woke up this morning feeling fine / rolled over, kissed a
friend of mine / and I love you, woman
Written by Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the all-woman African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
50 Ways to Save the Country
Lady Liberty came to my dream
last night / She lifted up her lantern and she caught me in the light / And she
spoke to me,/ “If for freedom you would fight, there must be / fifty ways to
save the country, / fifty ways to save the country”
She said “It’s really not my
thing to tell you what to do, / But I
see you have some problems and I thought I’d a clue / So I ask you, what
exactly will you do? There must be / fifty ways to save the country, fifty ways
to save the country”
Just pick up the phone, Joan, / call your congressman, Stan, /
Get out on the street, Pete / just get yourself free /
Don’t hide your head, Fred, / don’t you be misled! /
You don’t buy their crap, Pap, and / get yourself free
I said, “I’m only one small
person standing here, I fear / there’s just not that much that I can change
myself / I think that’s clear” / She just looked at me / and I could see that
she might be / thinking, “stop complaining, go and save your country.”
She said, “you are not
helpless, just do one thing every day, find other folks to work with, who
aren’t afraid to say, we got to change this mess, yes today must be the day,
there’s a thousand ways to save the country
Get organized now, / I think that we know how, / Don’t fall
for their lies, guys, defend democracy / It’s up to us, Gus, / get on the truth
bus! / Stand up for the planet now, and / get yourself free.
Just kick out the ICE, Bryce, / tell Miller to scram, Sam, / No
Kings round here, dear, / just get yourself free / It’s up to y’all, Paul, / time
to just stand tall! / Speak up for the truth, Ruth, and get yourself free.
Adapted by J Golden from the 1975 song by Paul Simon, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
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Hit the Road, ICE!
Hit
the road ICE, and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more! / Hit
the road, ICE, and don’t you come back no more. (repeat)
ICE Agent, ICE Agent, why do you treat us so mean?/ You’re
the meanest kidnappers that we’ve ever seen / You don’t care about due process,
you just want your way, / but things are
turning round on the streets today, / and I guess if we say so, you’ll have to
pack your bags and go (That’s right!)
Hit the road, ICE…
I’m just doing my job, that’s what you always say, / but
we’ll fight back for our rights today, / You can’t scare us with your tactics,
they’re not gonna work, / so try not to be such ugly jerks, / and I guess if we
say so, you’ll / have to pack your bags and go. (That’s right!)
Hit the road, ICE…
Adapted from the 1960 song "Hit the Road Jack" written by R&B artist Percy Mayfield and recorded by Ray Charles Go to index
No Kings in the USA
There ain't no kings / In the USA / and you're not god / no
matter what you say
You break your word, / you steal and lie / but you can't
break us / no matter how you try
This land is ours / and
we are free / from the desert sands /to the shining sea
Hand in hand, / unbent, unbroke / you spit your hate / we
wake, we woke (you heard us right!)
Because no one / can take our dreams away / and no man / owns
the USA! (Stand up, fight back!)
There ain't no kings / In the USA / and he ain’t god / no
matter what he say
He says bend (hell no, we won't!) / we say “not today” / cause
there ain't no kings / in the USA
No there ain't no kings in the USA!
2025 protest song by Ole! No Kings
Still Ain’t Satisfied
Well, they got women on TV / But
I still ain’t satisfied / ’Cause co-optation’s all I see / And I still ain’t
satisfied. / They call me Ms. / They sell me blue jeans. / Call it Women’s Lib.
/ They make it sound obscene.
And I still ain’t (whoa, they lied) / And I still ain’t (whoa,
they lied) / And I still ain’t (whoa, they lied)/ And I still ain’t satisfied.
Well, they got women prison
guards / But I still ain’t satisfied / With so many still behind bars / And I
still ain’t satisfied. / I don’t plead guilt. / I don’t want no bum deal. / I
don’t want crumbs. / I want the whole meal.
They give out pennies here and there / But I still ain’t satisfied/ To set up centers for child care / And I still ain’t satisfied. / And while we work / At slave wages / They brainwash our kids / At tender ages.
Well, this world sure don’t
look my way / And I still ain’t satisfied / ’Cause women get raped ev’ry day, /
And I still ain’t satisfied. / They say, OK, / We’ll give you a street light. /
But they get uptight / When we learn how to street fight
Well abortion is still legal here / but I still ain't satisfied / cause that might not be true next year, and I still ain't satisfied, / I’ve got some pride, I won’t
be lied to. / I did decide that halfway won’t do. / and I still ain’t…
Composed by Bonnie Lockhart Go to index
We Love You, Canada
We love you Canada, oh yes we / do, We want to live in peace
right next to you / when Trump talks takeover, we’re blue, Oh / Canada, we love
you
We love you Greenland, oh yes we do, / we do not want to
take your land away from you / we want a peaceful world, we do! Oh Greenland,
we love you!
We love you Mexico, oh yes we do, estamos en unidad con
ustedes* / when Trump talks trash ‘bout you, we’re blue / Oh Mexico, we love
you!
No imperialism no autocrats, / we will not fight their wars
and that is that / It is the side of love we choose, / all you fascists bound
to lose!
Based on the song "We Love You, Conrad," from the 1960 Broadway musical, "Bye Bye Birdie."
We Won’t Give Up
We won’t give up, / we won’t give in, / we will not support
a fascist, / no, we’re going for the win
We won’t shut up, we won’t sit down, / not for Bannon and
his minions, and not for the orange clown
‘Cuz 47 takes the cake, it’s clear that he is only on the
take, we won’t support Trump, won’t
respect Trump, we’ll resist Trump – yes sir
Never
gonna have a king, we won’t, / like to see somebody try and make us, / MAGA, if
you want to try and make us / bow down
to that man – let’s see if you can!
We won’t bow down – we will fight back every day, We will march and we will protest, and we will
not go away
We won’t bow down; no there's not a chance in hell, we will fight to make a difference cause, this
isn't going well
So
stop your lies and stop your mouth, D-J-T,
you are a fraud from north to south, we’ll
never agree to dump democracy, never a-gre-ee – not me – not we – not me , NO
SIR!
Adapted from the song "I Won't Grow Up," from the 1954 Broadway musical Peter Pan, composed by Mark "Moose" Charlap with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh Go to index
When We Rise Up
When we rise up and change
the world, / when we rise up and change the world, / Oh, how I want to be in
that number / When we rise up and change the world.
When every vote is sure to
count
When we make peace instead of
war
When we bring in a Green New
Deal
When we fund schools instead
of jails
When we build democracy
When we rise up . . .
Adapted from "When the Saints Go Marching In," a traditional Black American spiritual that evolved in the early 1900s Go to Index
Which Side Are You On
Come all of you good people, / good news to you I’ll tell / About
how true democracy can / come in here to dwell
Which
side are you on, which side are you on (2x)
Our movement is not perfect, / and it will never be, / But we can join together and / restore
democracy
Can you imagine unity, / I wonder if you can / together we
are powerful, / we’ll stand up for this land
We’ll stand up for this earth / and for human dignity / we’ll
stand up for the right of / every person to be free
Adapted from "Which Side Are You On," a song written in 1931 by activist Florence Reece, who was the wife of Sam Reece, a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky.
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Your MAGA Hat
You bought the hat and t-shirt, / you bought the crypto too, / you’ve got a Bible with his name / in gold and royal blue,
You voted for him three times,/ and you plan to do it again,/ and anyone says otherwise, / you’ll kick ‘em in the goddam shins
But your MAGA hat won’t get you into heaven any more, / it’s already overcrowded from the wars that we paid for/ And Jesus don’t like haters, / no matter what the reason for, / your MAGA hat won’t get you into heaven any more
You heard him talk about pussies, / and you said “boys will be boys”, / you heard him rag on immigrants and / you thought it was just noise
He said that he would drain the swamp, / and you said “yes, that’s good”, / but now the alligators are running things and / it’s time you understood, that your MAGA hat…
You said “I’m all for free speech” / but not from the other side, / you said “we need our guns” and / you looked away when the children died,
Well, when your time is over,/ I hope you’re not surprised, / when they turn you away at the pearly gates for / failing to recognize, that your MAGA hat…
Adapted by J. Golden from John Prine, “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore"
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CHANTS
Ain't no power like the power of people,
cause the power of people don't stop
No
Trump, no KKK, no [___] USA!
- Fascist | Racist |
Musk-led-
The people, united, will never be
defeated!
El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!
Power to the people, // no one is
illegal!
We are unstoppable! // Another world is
possible!
Loud and Clear! // Democracy must be
here!
Love not hate makes America great!
Se
ve, se siente // ¡El pueblo esta presente!
Se ve, se escucha // ¡Estamos en la lucha!
[You can see it, you can
feel it // The people are present! - You can see it, you can hear it // We are
in the fight!]
No Justice? No Peace!
Who’s future? Our Future!
Show me what [___] looks like!
This is what [___] looks like!
- Democracy - Community- Solidarity - Unity
Hey, hey! Ho, ho! [___]
- Autocracy has got to go
- All Trump’s lies have got to go
- D-O-G-E got to go
- Transphobia has got to go
- Musk and Trump have got to go
- Detention Camps have got to go
Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! [___] are here to
stay! - Women’s rights - Trans rights - Immigrants – Civil Rights
When [___] are under attack, what do we do?
-- { Stand up ---fight back! ----
Immigrants
| trans lives | queer lives | Black lives | Our people
What do we want? [___]!
When do we want it? Now! –
Climate
justice | Democracy | DEI | Peace in the world | Sanity | Trump in jail
When I say [___], you say [-----]!
[___] [-----]
Climate
/ Justice
Trans / Rights
Free / Palestine
Democracy / Now
Trump’s a liar, this I know; he and Musk
have got to go !
Hey hey! Ho ho!
Trump’s a felon, this I know; he and
Musk have got to go !
Hey hey! Ho ho!
Trump’s a big thief, this I know; he and
Musk have got to go !
Hey hey! Ho ho!
Say it loud! Say it clear! // [___] are
welcome here!
Rights for all (2x)
Immigrants (2x)
Say it loud! Say it clear! // [___] is
welcome here!
Free
speech (2x)
Diversity (2x)
Equity (2x)
Inclusion(2x)
Rule of law (2x)