Author Archives: Jake

Somebody’s Hurting My Brother

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by Yara Allen

Download PDF of Somebody’s Hurting My Brother with harmony parts

Somebody’s Hurting My Brother is a wonderful call and response song by Yara Allen* that needs a good strong leader. The response is simple enough for just about anybody, but there are lots of possibilities for more experienced singers to harmonize and add interesting clapping or other percussion rhythms. We The downloadable PDF version has a suggested harmony for the response in four parts.

Yara Allen teaching, Somebody’s Hurting My Brother

*Yara Allen is a singer, songwriter, poet, and musician, and a native of Rocky Mount, NC. She is also the Director of Theomusicology and Cultural Arts with Repairers of the Breach (Goldsboro, NC) and Co-Director of Theomusicology and Movement Arts with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

We are Singing for Democracy (Siyahamba)

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Download PDF of We are Singing for Democracy
Download PDF of Siyahamba with full harmony and words in English, Spanish and Zulu

Siyahamba is a song from South Africa. Here, Ellen Oak and Laura Beck have rewritten the English words to fit the need of this moment. The downloadable PDF has the original version in English, Spanish and Zulu, as well as the version with “We are Singing for Democracy.”

Here are the Original words in all three languages:
Original Zulu:
Siyahamba ekukhanyeni kwenkos.
Siyahamba ekukhanyeni kwenkos (repeat)
CHORUS
Siyahamba, ‘hamba. Siyahamba, (ooh) ‘hamba
Siyahamba ekukhanyeni kwenkos.

English:
We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God. (repeat)
CHORUS
We are marching, marching, we are marching, (ooh) marching,
We are marching in the light of God.

Spanish:
Marcharemos en la luz de Dios, Marcharemos en la luz de Dios.
Marcharemos, ’remos, Marcheremos, (Uuu), ’remos,
Marcharemos en la luz de Dios.

This version is the same arrangement as the one in the PDF.

Listen to the harmony on this MP3 file…

Here is the Mwamba Children’s Choir singing Siyahamba

Pay Me My Money Down

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Download the PDF of Pay Me My Money Down

This song will really get people dancing and clapping! Bring a tambourine! If you are lucky enough to have a band that has some experience with New Orleans jazz, they can go to town. I love Bruce Springsteen’s recording of this. You can listen (and see) it on the YouTube link below. The downloadable PDF has some simple ideas for harmonization.

Some suggestions for alternative lyrics—or you could write your own!

I thought I heard the President say,
Pay me my money down,
“Social Security’s here to stay.”
Pay me my money down!

Well, Elon Musk with his chain saw,
Pay me my money down,
He stole my money and he broke the law,
Pay me my money down!

They cut off U-S-A-I-D,
Pay me my money down,
Now Donald says, “That ain’t on me!”
Pay me my money down

And the ICE-man took me from my street,
Pay me my money down,
El Salvodor jails got no bed sheet,
Pay me my money down.

If you tell Donald Trump his word ain’t law,
Pay me my money down,
He’ll throw his dinner up on the wall,
Pay me my money down.

When Donald Trump is finally out,
Pay me my money down,
I’ll spend my money and I’ll sing and shout,
Pay me my money down.

Bruce Springsteen and his band singing Pay Me My Money Down

I’m Gonna Walk it with You

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Download as PDF: I’m Gonna Walk it with You

“It looks like you might have a hard road, but I’m gonna walk it with you.”

You get to a certain age, you find that you have not been able to sustain promises to other people, or you have not been able to make promises to other people because you knew you wouldn’t be able to carry them out. This is a great, an amazing song; but I don’t think I could ever sing it. I wish I could. It’s the kind of promise that maybe Jesus could make. Or, maybe, a promise that we could make as a family, or a village, or a culture. Maybe I could sing this with the support of other people. I love this song.

Utah Women Unite gathering in the Utah State Capital January 2017

Brian Claflin and Ellie Grace singing I’m Gonna Walk it with You

Don’t you want to vote?

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Download PDF of Don’t You Want to Vote
Download MuseScore file of Don’t you Want to Vote?

This is fun, short and really adaptable.

Come on, come on, come on
Don’t you want to vote?
Come on, come on, come on
Don’t you want to vote?
Come on, come on, come on
Don’t you want to vote?
Yes, I want to vote!

Have you registered somebody?
Don’t you want to vote…

Will you meet me at the polling place!
Don’t you want to vote…

Go and raise your voices!
Don’t you want to vote…

Yaray Allen Leading her song, Don’t You Want to Vote?

Mi unica bandera

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Download PDF of Mi unica bandera.

by The Peace Poets

This song cries out for percussion! It’s pretty simple, like all great dance music. In fact, it makes you want to dance in the streets. I would use it the way marching bands use a cadence in the percussion section: as a lively, dancing filler between other songs. It needs a charismatic leader to really bring people in.

The Peace Poets are a collective of artists that celebrate, examine and advocate for life through music and poetry. Their style emphasizes lyricism, rhythm and authenticity. They hail from the Bronx and have been rocking the mic since 2005.

Translation of the Spanish words:
Listen, my people, we bring the power. Freedom is my only flag.
Translation of English words:
¡Arriba, pueblo mío, cóndores míos, águilas mías! Ningún ser humano será jamás ilegal.

I am Not Afraid

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Download PDF file of I am not afraid
Download MuseScore file of I am not afraid

This is a great song to sing at a march or any action where people might get arrested, ICE is present, there is danger from hecklers, or at any action that is focused on the danger we are all in because of Trump and the forces of Authoritarianism. It’s a simple melody and one that can be enhanced by clapping and other percussion, and by improvised harmonization.

Here is a YouTube video that was made at at The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Theomusicology and Movement Arts Gathering in Raleigh, NC February 2018.

Hard Times, Come Again No More

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Download a PDF of the original Hard Times Come Again No More.
Download MuseScore lead sheet of Hard Times Come Again No More

Hard Times was one of Stephen Foster’s earliest songs, written in 1853. Though the language of the lyrics is filled with nineteenth century sentimentality, still it expresses the pain of poverty and the divide between the rich and the poor in a way that is just as real today as it was 170 years ago. The YouTube recording, below, by Emmy Lou Harris, et al, is truly amazing.

This recording by Emmylou Harris, with Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Mary Black & Rufus Wainwright is my favorite recording of Hard Times…