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
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
Download PDF of We Have Come with a Force More Powerful
Music is sometimes more effective than words This is another of the Peace Poets short chants. They call this “a Deescalation song to honor the strength of our love.” Non violence is in its essence a method of communication by taking down walls and, if possible, making friends with the enemy and convincing them to change their ways. We always hope for that possibility. Often, we can do this work better through music than we can by yelling and arguing. Here‘s an interesting clip from The Tennesseean showing a confrontation at the No Kings demonstration in Nasheville between the police, a group from The Proud Boys and a crowd of demonstrators. A lot of protestors were yelling and swearing; but a brass band stepped up and started playing O Bella Ciao. By the end of the song, the tension had dissipated and everybody, even the Proud Boys, were clapping and cheering for the music.
Listen to the YouTube Video: We Have Come With a Voice More Powerful
Download PDF of El pueblo unido
Download PDF of El pueblo unido, arranged for band
Download MuseScore file of El pueblo unido
There are several chants that I feel should be retired. As the Peace Poets say on their website, “Hey, hey, Ho, ho,” has got to go! Also tiresome is, “The people united will never be defeated,” or that’s what I thought until I heard the original version in Spanish. Here, the chant is presented in counterpoint to the really thrilling melody of, El pueblo unido jamas será vencido. Listen to the video below and you will hear what I mean.
I am a sucker for a great melody. It’s all very well to chant and yell, but sometimes letting your real voice out and really singing with your brothers and sisters is a liberation of the soul—the foundation of solidarity.
EL PUEBLO UNIDO
De pie, cantar que vamos’a triunfar.
Avanzan ya banderas a’unidad.
Y tú vendrás marchando junto’a mí
y’a sí verás tu canto’y tu bandera florecer.
La luz de’un rojo’amanecer
anuncia ya la vida que vendrá.
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
THE PEOPLE UNITED
Stand up and sing for we are going to win.
Advance the flags, the flags of unity.
And you have come to march, to march with me, and thus you’ll see
your songs and banners come to brilliant flower. The light, the light of a red dawn
anouncing now the life that is to come.
The people united will never be defeated! The people united will never be defeated!
I don’t know where or when this video was recorded.
Here is a recording by Inti Illimani. I don’t find it as exciting as the one above, but I had some trouble fitting the words to the melody when I was transcribing this song and here the words are clearer.
Download PDF of O bella ciao
(We’ll have a version of O Bella Ciao for band available soon.)
Non violence is in its essence a method of communication by taking down walls and, if possible, making friends with the enemy and convincing them to change their ways. We always hope for that possibility. Often, we can do this work better through music than we can by yelling and arguing. Here‘s an interesting clip from The Tennesseean showing a confrontation at the No Kings demonstration in Nashville between the police, a group from The Proud Boys and a crowd of demonstrators. A lot of protestors were yelling and swearing; but a brass band stepped up and started playing O Bella Ciao. By the end of the song, the tension had dissipated and everybody, even the Proud Boys, were clapping and cheering for the music.
During World War II, this song of resistance was sung by the partisans. It is known and used widely in Europe and Latin America. But it’s in Italian, not Spanish. O bella ciao is one of those melodies that can be deeply moving while also being adaptable for dancing.
Here is a famous performance of it by the popular Italian singer Milva:
For a totally different take on O bella ciao, here is an scherzando arrangement for band.
If you would like to learn more about the song, try this Wikipedia entry.
Download PDF file of We Shall Overcome
Download PDF file of an arrangement for marching band of We Shall Overcome.
I’m not saying that this isn’t a good song but I can’t sing this any more. I’m old and I remember the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Dr. King and the Kennedy brothers, the war in Nicaragua, the Gulf War and the War in Iraq, the seemingly endless mass murders in schools, churches, synagogues, supermarkets and in the streets; and now the present horror show with concentration camps in authoritarian countries that are unaccountable to the citizens of the United States. The increase in stateless people in endless peregrination as they search for a place to settle has long been foreseeable given the totally predictable damage we are doing to the environment. Yet we who foresaw it have been incapable of doing anything to prepare for this time, while those who use cruelty and viscousness as their tactic of choice to enrich themselves leapt on the unprotected. The truth is, I am not certain that we shall overcome. Yet, the joy I take in building solidarity with the poor and the good-hearted is very great. What is a collection of protest songs without, We Shall Overcome? The PDF has two harmonized versions, the second one is very churchy, with a kind of Southern Baptist feel to it. You could play it on a Wurlitzer organ with the vibrato turned up high to get the full effect; and I have just added an arrangement for brass band for which I wrote a descant obligato for piccolo, which I am stupidly proud of.
Here is a recording from 1965 of Joan Baez (who else?) singing We Shall Overcome.
The Peace Poets are family born of Hip Hop, heart, and hope in New York City. Some have been friends since as early as three years old and over time they have built an artist collective of poets, Hip Hop performers, and educators founded on this friendship and their common love for community and creative expression.
“A freedom love song to us, the movement for liberation. This is a song to GROUND, INSPIRE, AND CONNECT us when we gather…”
The Peace Poets are family born of Hip Hop, heart, and hope in New York City. Some have been friends since as early as three years old and over time they have built an artist collective of poets, Hip Hop performers, and educators founded on this friendship and their common love for community and creative expression.
“A deescalation song to signal to protesters that it’s time to sit down. We can use this song when faced with external threats to literally sit down and be grounded in the power our our unity, our connection to the earth and our vision of liberation.”
The Peace Poets are family born of Hip Hop, heart, and hope in New York City. Some have been friends since as early as three years old and over time they have built an artist collective of poets, Hip Hop performers, and educators founded on this friendship and their common love for community and creative expression.
“A bold song to face hate and choose democracy. This song can be used to ENERGIZE AND CLARIFY our vision of our community. It can be offered in moments of gathering or closing, online or in the streets.”