Homeless Wassail

Finest Kind
|  December 1, 2007
by Ian Robb

Uncredited photo courtesy of Speed of Dark. Click to enlarge.





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The song was conceived one wintery evening by the sight of a few homeless folks huddling together for warmth on a subway grate outside Toronto city hall, while hordes of good citizens passed them by, focused on getting home with their Christmas shopping. The old English tradition of wassailing, in which the workers visited the wealthier houses in the village, sang, and were rewarded with food and drink, seemed like an appropriate setting.




1. Wassail, wassail all over the town
Our cup is white and our ale is brown.
But huddled on this iron grate
We poor and hungry curse our fate.

Chorus:
No wassail bowl for such as these
No turkey scraps, no ale nor cheese.
This Christmas eve our hearts' desire
Is a bottle of gin and a trashcan fire.

Ian Robb, Shelley Posen, Ann Downey
Ian Robb, Shelley Posen, Ann Downey

2. Good Christian mind, as home you go
With dreams of holly and mistletoe,
That the holly bears a dreadful thorn
For those who wake to a frozen dawn.

Chorus

3. Oh, where is he, that holy child
Once born of Mary, meek and mild?
And whither peace, goodwill to men
Now and for evermore, amen?

Chorus

4. All ye who dine with face aglow
In Reginensi atrio,
Pray pause awhile at pleasure's door
And sup some sorrow with the poor.

Chorus

5. Wassail, wassail all over the town
Our cup is white and our ale is brown.
This cold and hunger, pain and care,
Sweet Jesus Christ, it's hard to bear!






Personnel: Ian Robb, lead vocals, concertina; Ann Downey, Shelley Posen, harmony vocals; James Stephens, David Bignell, David Cain, sound.

From Feasts and Spirits CD. Buy it.


 

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    September 1, 2004

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    At the June 2004 Great Labor Arts Exchange. . . This is for Victor Reuther, Millie Jeffries, Marilyn Majors, Eddie Starr, Hedy Hilburn....
  • The 1910 Spokane Free Speech Fight
    Utah Phillips
    August 1, 2004

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    . . . That's when I met Herb Edwards. Herb Edwards lived in West Seattle. He was an old IWW organizer, and a Norwegian immigrant. . . ....
  • I Hate Wal-Mart
    Dave Lippman
    July 1, 2004

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    Brought 6,000 jobs back to South Carolina  /  For a whole 6 months, then sent 'em back to China  /  Where they work 12...
  • Unemployment Compensation Blues
    Finland Station
    June 1, 2004

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    Written in 1949 and recorded in 1989, this timeless tune speaks of Thorazine. Today the drug choices have multiplied.
  • What It's Like
    John McCutcheon
    May 1, 2004

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    In 1985 UFCW Local P-9 struck the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota. The local waged a determined two-year fight, taking on the...
  • A Little A' This 'N' That
    Pete Seeger, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
    April 1, 2004

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    My grandma, she can make a soup, / with a little a' this 'n' that. / She can feed the whole sloop group, / with a little a' this 'n' that...
  • Moving Day / We Shall Not Be Moved
    Charlie King, Karen Brandow
    March 1, 2004

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    Fred Stanton got the idea for this song from labor activist Bob Peters in Clive, Iowa, who sent him a story about an eviction in a working-...
  • Solidarity
    Fruit Of Labor
    February 1, 2004

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    This song debuted in the Southern Capitol City of Raleigh in 2001, at the first ever National Union Convention in the State of North...
  • Time To Ring Some Changes
    Tom Juravich
    January 1, 2004

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    This old country's tumbling down / Walls are gone but the roof is sound / Government's deaf, they can never be found / Time to ring some...
  • War On The Workers
    Anne Feeney
    December 1, 2003

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    Anne Feeney went to the Staley picket line 20 times from her home in Pittsburgh, was arrested once, and sang union fund-raising concerts all...
  • Hospital Workers
    Rebel Voices
    November 1, 2003

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    John Philip Sousa as a labor leader.
  • El Mojado
    Águila Negra
    October 1, 2003

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    Baldemar Velasquez has a pretty important day job—president of the Farm Laborers Organizing Committee. But his work for workplace justice is...
  • Jerusalem
    Joe Uehlein, Bev Grant, Pam Parker, Anne Feeney
    September 1, 2003

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    I woke up this mornin' and none of the news was good. / The death machines were rumblin' 'cross the ground where Jesus stood.
  • We're An On-Time Union
    Gloria Britton-Ellis, AFT Singers Burnetta Ajide, Jo Autry, Rennette Brown, Tom Moran, Sharon Wilson
    August 1, 2003

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    Music, struggle, teaching: all of a piece...
  • I Cannot Sleep
    Jon Fromer, Francisco Herrera
    July 1, 2003

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    A Malvina Reynolds tune: I cannot sleep thinking of the children / Who cannot sleep, gone supperless to bed. / I cannot sleep thinking of...
  • Toxic Dreams
    Pat Wynne
    June 1, 2003

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    In 2001 Pat Wynne traveled to Cuba with members of the Freedom Song Network to perform and attend a labor conference and the May Day...
  • Mean Things Happening / Ain't You Got A Right / Roll The Union On
    Luci Murphy, Janet Stecher, Susan Lewis
    May 1, 2003

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    Elders of the tribe: These songs of the civil rights movement were recorded at the June 2001 Great Labor Arts Exchange.
  • If I Only Had A Brain
    George Mann, Julius Margolin
    April 1, 2003

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    I'd read poetry for hours / Circulate in ivory towers / Know Mexico from Spain / I would say it very bluntly / Africa is not a country / If...
  • The People Are In Charge
    Ray Korona
    March 1, 2003

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    Every big, political demonstration has its own rhythm, sense of danger, spirit of determination and edgy humor. Each one, in its own way,...
  • One Puppet Town
    Charlie King
    February 1, 2003

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    Don't bring your puppet to the inauguration / W don't allow no puppets marching around / Don't try any free speech or protestation / 'Cause...
  • No Sweat
    Pat Humphries
    January 1, 2003

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    Bev Grant and I wrote No Sweat for United Students Against Sweatshop's campaign of the same name. We were both raising teenage daughters...
  • Reindeer Games
    David King
    December 1, 2002

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    What if Santa’s reindeer didn’t like how they were treated?
  • Labor Of Love
    Bev Grant
    November 1, 2002

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    Inspired by the birth of Malaya, her daughter's daughter.
  • One More Time
    Charlie Ray Fetty III
    October 1, 2002

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    A song about the Mobil Inspirational, third-prize winner in the 1999 Colorado State Fair Parade (and first prize in originality).
  • The Mill Was Made Of Marble / I Ain't No Stranger Now
    Joe Glazer
    September 1, 2002

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    Since I've been introduced to the CIO / I ain't no stranger now.

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