PDF of Down to the River to Pray
Download MuseScore file of Down to the River to Pray
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.
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 Down by the Riverside (in F major)
Score for Band: Down by the Riverside In B-flat major for band, separate instrumental parts included.
Download MuseScore files (lead sheet and band arrangement) of Down by the Riverside
Down by the Riverside is very popular at demonstrations, particularly when there is a band there. I have included a band arrangement above, but a lot of bands just take the melody and improvise on it in a New Orleans jazz style and, if your band can improvise, this is probably the best and the most fun and effective way to use it.
I just learned the term, “Zipper Song.” It means a song that is easy to add new lyrics to, on the spot. Down by the Riverside turns out to be a terrific zipper song. Aaron, who is the music coordinator at the weekly “Bear Witness” rally outside the ICE Detention Center in Burlington, MA stands there with his guitar and makes up lyrics on the fly. He says he just looks at people’s signs and turns them into lyrics!
Louis Armstrong singing Down by the Riverside (I’m Gonna Lay Down my Sword and Shield)
Bill and Gloria Gaitherr singing Down by the Riverside
Download PDF of Wade in the Water
Download Arrangement for Band in E-flat (listen to audio below).
This is just one of my favorite hymns. Not exactly a protest song, but I think it would be great at a vigil or a memorial celebration. I’m not sure what the words mean, exactly, but somehow it comforts me when I feel trouble is coming. “Good trouble,” I hope!
In the PDF I’ve included a version with very simple chords plus another version that has been arranged for a choir. If you have singers who are good at improvising harmony, I’d go with that; but the arranged version is also excellent.
The rhythm on this is kind of hard to read (most American gospel, pop, and jazz music is); but, if you listen to a couple of recordings, you’ll find that it’s pretty easy to do it. Don’t forget to sing the eighth notes with a swing rhythm.
Download PDF file of Everybody’s Got a Right to Live!
This song was written for The March on Washington in 1968. It was originally directed at the way racism resulted in poverty. Both the original words and the simplified words are included on the PDF. It’s a great song when you have a bunch of people who don’t know many songs. The words are simple and the tune is easy to learn in a call and response way.
Download PDF of We Shall Not Be Moved
We Shall Not Be Moved was adapted by the labor movement in the 1930s and in the 1950s and ’60s was sung in Civil Rights movement. It originates from, I shall not be moved, an African-American slave spiritual, hymn, and protest song dating to the early 19th century. It was likely sung originally at revivalist camp-meetings as a slave jubilee. [Information from Wikipedia]
I like this version of Mavis Staples singing We Shall Not Be Moved because it has an actual video of Mavis singing and also includes her telling a great story about singing this in the late 1950s in the Civil Rights movement.
However, this recording of Mavis singing We Shall Not Be Moved may be better, musically.
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.
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
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.
Download PDF file of Hold On Just a Little While Longer
Download MuseScore file of Hold On Just a Little While Longer
This is a fantastic song; but I am never sure about its message. Will everything be all right, or are we whistling in the dark? However you feel about the truth of the sentiment, the simplicity and urgency of this song is very moving. If you feel that everything might not be all right, I’ve added an alternative lyric, “Justice is coming, this I know,” which is taken from The Poor People’s Campaign Songbook. Or you could write your own lyric. I’ll leave it with you to decide.
There are a lot of excellent recordings of this song floating around on the internet. Here are just a few…