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.
Here are more verses:
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…
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.)
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.
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 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.”
“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.”
Till we stop this Coup is “…a loud, direct song to call out an attempt at a coup and reaffirm our commitment to resistance. This song is an ENERGIZING AND UNIFYING song to call out any attempt at a coup and declare our commitment to resistance. It can be used early and often to express to media and any observer of our action that we are both peaceful and committed to our cause. It can also be used when we might feel shaken up or confused, we can sing this to remind ourselves: ‘we know what to do.’”
