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.
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 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 Shall We Gather at the River
What is it about water that so many of songs of the spirit conjure with it? “Wade in the water, children! God’s going to trouble the water!”, ”Like a tree that is planted by the water, we shall not be moved,” “By the waters of Babilon we lay down and wept when we remembered thee, O Zion!” And, I guess I just love hymns; and this one is so happy and so deep that I just have to include it.
Well, of course there are a couple of versions of this. Burl Ives is so unselfconsciously hokey that you have to love him.
This next one by Buddy Greene is so sweet that you almost can’t listen to it. Well, actually, it’s under copyright so you can’t listen to it here even if you want to; you have to go to YouTube. Click on the image.
Though it’s basically such a jolly song, most of the recordings of Shall We Gather at the River take it slowly and with a kind of cloying sincerity. I have no idea who the Hee Haw Gospel Quartet is (are?)—maybe they were connected to that old TV show? —but I kind of like their homespun take on this old standard even if it is offered tongue-in-cheek. (I’m still waiting for an African American gospel version. If you run across one, please send me a link!)
Download PDF of What does the Lord Require of You
Jim Strathee has here combined a verse from the Book of Micah with a variation of Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D. Strathee’s arrangement for choir and piano is copyrighted.
Here is a YouTube recording that includes a piano accompaniment. I haven’t been able to figure out where to purchase the sheet music for this arrangement and, anyhow, I can’t present it here because of copyright issues. The piano adds a bit of lushness, but the song works perfectly well as an a cappella round.
Download PDF of Rich Man’s Strategy
This is a very effective chant. It is primitive in the sense that it sticks to the pentatonic scale* (or, actually, the tetratonic scale, in that it uses only four notes). It works well with a drone on LA**, and some kind of very repetitive rhythmic ostinato. In the PDF of this song I have added in a steady drum beat.
If the response part to this is sung by a group of singers, there is a lot of room for harmonic improvisation; in fact, because of its harmonic simplicity, this would be a good song for less experienced singers to get a start on improvised harmony. If you stick to the notes in the pentatonic scale, you can’t really sing a note that is “wrong.”
*The pentatonic or gapped scale skips FA and TI. In other words the scale goes DO RE MI SO LA (DO). In this song, you start on LA instead of DO, so it goes: LA DO RE MI SO (LA).
**In movable DO solfege, DO is the tonic of the major scale and LA is the tonic note of the minor scale.
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 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.
Download a PDF file of The Beatitudes
Chant from the Russian Orthodox liturgy — Matthew 5:2–12
I have a fantasy of getting together a small choir and singing this on the steps of the Capitol, maybe singing it repetitively—a lot of times—to make sure it is heard.
Below is an excerpt of this wonderful harmonized chant from the Russian Orthodox tradition. Download the PDF above for the full thing, or go to the Episcopal Church’s The Hymnal 1982 (hymn number 560).
You can hear this chant, beautifully sung by the choir of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Fort Worth in the embedded YouTube recording below.
This site is, of course, about politics, but on a deeper level it is about clearing and healing our spirits through singing. Chanting is a kind of active meditation that goes very deep. I’d like to do more of it in vigils and witnessing actions, moments when we want to influence the course of events with the power of our own inner centeredness and peace, rather than with anger, times when we come together to remember those who have died or who are imprisoned.
Most of my experience is within the Christian Church; but chant is found in all faiths and spiritual traditions. A good book about chant is, The Sacred Art of Chant, by Ana Hernandez; however, better to start by chanting rather than reading about chanting.
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…”