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 Movedmay be better, musically.
“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.
This is a good one for small groups that get together for a vigil or a service. It’s easy to learn and will help introduce harmony. This is a song that works better inside so the singers can hear each other.
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…
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…
Another great song from the Civil War—though this one may be more familiar to many as…
“Glory, glory hallelujah, Teacher hit me with a ruler, Knocked her on the bean with a rotten tangerine And she sunk like a German submarine.”
The original tune for this song was, John Brown’s Body. A song about the abolitionist, John Brown, who was put to death after a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859. If we allow ourselves to feel it, this song, with it’s simple, repetitive rhythm and it’s three-chord harmony, is still a stirring evocation of the righteousness we long for as a people.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic (LYRICS)
1. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on.
(Chorus) Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
2. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on.
3. I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: “As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal;” Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, Since God is marching on.
4. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat; Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.
5. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me. As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.
This is a classic protest song that was used in the fight for integration starting in the 1950s and ’60s, but going back much farther. It is worthwhile, when organizing music for rallies, to vary the mood and tempo of the songs. This song, which, often sung in a “happy-clappy,” summer camp style, can be very powerful and dignified when sung to a slower tempo. The version in the video below by Sweet Honey in the Rock illustrates what I mean.
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me round (LYRICS)
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me round, Lord, Turn me round, turn me round, Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me round, I just keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’, Marching up on freedom land.
