Collected from Lisa Perrywood
Bearing Witness demonstration at the ICE facility in Burlington, MA (3/5/2026)
I had been carrying a sign that said, “Solo el Pueblo Salva el Pueblo” at the Bearing Witness Wednesday demonstrations outside the ICE facility in Burlington, Massachusetts for several months. It means, “Only the people save the people.”
One day a woman came up and said, “Oh, I know that song. They’ve been singing it in Minneapolis!” So, she sang it into my phone for me and here it is.
by Woody Guthrie
PDF of All You Fascists Bound to Lose
MuseScore file of All you Fascists Bound to Lose
Additional verses to All You Fascists Bound to Lose, by Windbourne,
by Tom Smith and Young at Heart Chorus
I heard Tom Smith singing in Burlington MA at one of the Thursday protests of the ICE facility there (Protests are held each week on Wednesdays and Thursdays and sometimes Saturdays). Tom sent me a copy of the words he uses. There are lots of other verses online.
You can find Tom at: https://www.tomsmithmusic.com/.
Your bigotry won’t stop us;
This one thing we know;
Immigrants belong here
And ICE has got to go!
You’re bound to lose,
You fascists bound to lose.
You fascists act like gangsters,
Like you’re above the law;
But murder in the streets,
Well, that’s the final straw!
You’re bound to lose,
You fascists bound to lose.
Race hatred will not break us;
You better learn this quick,
Our children won’t be sold
your poison rhetoric!
You’re bound to lose,
You fascists bound to lose.
Woody Guthrie singing Bound to Lose
Alternative words by Bette Midler
Hey there, all you fascists,
Let me set you straight,
When you come for the rest of us
We’ll fight you at the gate!
You bound to lose,
You fascists bound to lose!
We’ll battle ICE together
Until they cut and run
And like in Minneapolis
And when the midterms come
You bound to lose,
You fascists bound to lose.
CHORUS
The hell with all you cowards
Who hide behind their masks
We’re gonna win the midterms
We’re coming for his ass!
He knows it, too!
The bastard’s bound to lose.
Trying to distract us
From the Epstein files,
You gas and beat and murder us
Protecting pedophiles.
Let’s turn the screws,
You pervs are bound to lose!
CHORUS
America get ready,
Midterms are at hand;
We gotta stick together, folks:
And vote to save this land!
It’s time to choose!
Those fascists bound to lose!
CHORUS
PDF of Down to the River to Pray
Download MuseScore file of Down to the River to Pray
(Scroll to the bottom for my alternative lyrics.)
This is a beautiful hymn has been sung a lot in the Minneapolis resistance (January 2026). Though it originates in the Christian tradition, the theme of praying at a river to establish solidarity with God and one another is found in almost all religious traditions.
Here are some alternative lyrics that I wrote:
PDF of Down to the River—alternative lyrics
As I went down to the river to pray,
Studying what ICE had done today,
And who would go and who would stay,
Good Lord, show me the way!
CHORUS:
O Brothers, let’s go down!
Come on down, don’t you want to go down?
O brothers, let’s go down,
Down to the river to pray.
I took my kids down to school this day,
Wondering if we’d all be okay,
Would the kids be safe if they took me away?
Good Lord, show me the way!
CHORUS:
O sisters, let’s go down! …
I went down to the river to pray,
Studying how we had got this way,
Where some would swim but some would drown,
Good Lord, show me the way!
CHORUS
O sinners, let’s go down!…
As I went down to the river to pray,
Studying about that good old way,
And who would wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way!
CHORUS
O children, let’s go down! …
PDF of choir music for St. John’s Choir Members
This is a collection of music that is in the St. John’s choir’s repetoire
Download PDF of We’re Gonna Roll
Download MuseScore file of We’re Gonna Roll
This is a fun song to sing in a large group and it’s a good “zipper song”; in other words, you can make up verses on the fly, so it’s really adaptable.
If the goons get in the way, we’re gonna roll right over them…
If the scabs get in the way, we’re gonna roll right over them…
If the Gov gets in the way, we’re gonna roll it over him…
If they lie to us again, were gonna roll it over them…
If they try to lock us out, were gonna roll it over them…
If they throw us all in jail, were gonna roll it over them…
If they try to shut us up, were gonna roll it over them…
The Almanac Singers singing Roll the Union On
by Woody Guthrie
Download PDF of I Ain’t Got No Home
Download MuseScore file of I Ain’t Got No Home
This isn’t a song that can be played by a band or sung by a chorus. It’s just a guitar and singer sort of thing. Not sure why I am including it except that I can’t very well leave it out, you know? There’s nothing more to say about this. It makes me cry every time. I’m hoping that I’m not abridging any copyrights…
I put this in D minor, and fairly high; that’s because it’s the way Woody Guthrie sings it. Women folk singers (American) tend to like to use the lower part of their voices and this key probably works for them, too, if they sing it an octave lower than what is written here. If I write it out that way, it looks stupid because I have to use so many ledger lines. Maybe I’ll transpose it to E-flat minor — but not today.
Here is Rosanne Cash, singing I Ain’t Got No home — A very different, but equally moving performance.
Download PDF file of I’m Gon’ Stand
Download MuseScore file of I’m Gon’ Stand
This call and response song requires a strong, energetic leader and a back-up chorus who can hold to the harmony. When the singers can hold their parts, this is very effective but it’s not a good song for “sing-along”. I have given a bare bones version of the song and labeled the leaders part, “ad lib.” If you listen to the version by Sweet Honey in the Rock, below, you will get an idea of how flexible this can be.
Here is a great rendition of I’m Gon’ Stand by Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Download PDF of Go Down Moses
Downlosd PDF of band arrangement of Go Down Moses
Download MuseScore files (lead sheet and band arr.) for Go Down Moses
Go Down Moses! You can sing this in a straight up choral/gospel style, as a New Orleans style jazz number, with solo improvisations for band, you can write new verses to suite the needs of the moment, really there are so many possibilities that i can’t list them all. Plus, almost everybody knows the chorus and they can join in. I love the version by Louis Armstrong that I have included below.
I haven’t written a band arrangement for this and I am not sure I really am up to it. This may be one of those songs that just has to be improvised. Maybe I’ll write out a bass line with chords and the melody and let you all take it from there.
Here is the Louis Armstrong version.
Download PDF of America the Beautiful
Download PDF of band arrangement of America the Beautiful
Download MuseScore file (compressed) of America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful is the first score that we have offered in a MuseScore file. We are doing this so that band leaders can arrange parts according to what instruments they have in their bands. MuseScore is a really good music transcription application that can be downloaded free from MuseScore.org. There is also a professional level version that also allows you to download from a really big library of music that other members have composed or transcribed. As with all the music transcription software available, there is pretty stiff learning curve when you start; but, if you are going to be dealing with a lot of music for band, it is well worth the time to learn it.
Here is a wonderful arrangement by Carmen Dragon. I couldn’t resist including it. If your band is can do it, definitely play this rather than mine! (Well, maybe for marching.)
Download PDF of The Star Spangled Banner
Download PDF of full score and parts for marching band of The Star Spangled Banner
I have mixed feelings about our National Anthem. Francis Scott Key’s intention in writing the words it was, in part to proclaim victory over slaves who tried to escape in British ships during the War of 1812, and nowadays it is still very often used in offensively chauvinistic ways, ways that reinforce a kind of overbearing, masculine and militaristic ideal of what it means to be an American, and ideal that excludes women, gay men (really all LGBTQ people), native Americans and anybody who does not ally themselves with football. Still, the tune (which predates Keys’s words) is magnificent, and the sentiment in the first verse speaks to our hope that our Flag and the American ideals that it stands for will somehow withstand the shadows of oppression that are shadowing our land. Yeah, I do actually love the song. We know that the origins of our national ideals are often marred by the unthinking racism of the founders, but they laid down ideas that were a transition from the brutality of their times and have been a foundation for the liberal tradition of the past two and a half centuries.
Here is the Navy Band playing the Star Spangled Banner. (I need to listen to their arrangement carefully and see if I can’t improve the version for band given above).
Here is a really fantastic choral version by the Kentucky All-State Choir at their annual convention. It is very slow because the space they are in is so reverberant.