Artist:
Emma's Revolution

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-by Sandy O, Pat Humphries

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Lobster boat, Portland Maine. Photo: William B. Folsom, NOAA Fisheries collection. Click for pop-up.

I set the pots in early morning
The work is hard, the air is cold
The sea can change without a warning
This life can make a young man old
I take my catch down to the market
I take my wages home each night
While up the river sits a fortune
In stone and lumber out of sight

I do this work my mother taught me
I cannot read but I can sew
I make these pieces for the tourists
A souvenir before they go
The months are short, the needs are many
And summer's sales must last the year
While up the river sits a fortune
Hungry silence lingers here

This second home will be their haven
They have the means to build their dream
I am the one who pours the concrete
Who lays each joist and fills each seam
But at my home the stairs are open
There isn't time or cash to spare
While up the river sits a fortune
And there's nobody living there

The eagles nest beyond the reaches
Of city light and human hand
They struggle here beside the people
Who fish the sea and farm the land
But once the eagle nearly vanished
From poisoned oceans, soil and rain
A human and a bird's returning
Surviving on the coast of Maine

Personnel: Sandy O, lead vocal, guitar; Pat Humphries, harmony vocal, guitar; James McVay, baritone guitar, lap steel, producer; Gil Morales, mix.

Buy Roots, Rock & Revolution CD.

Sandy O and Pat Humphries are members of AFM Local 1000.

Photo: Diane Mason, Hope Films.

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Music Archives

November 2008
Emma's Revolution

Coast of Maine

Sandy O, Pat Humphries
Photo: William B. Folsom.

October 2008
Bev Grant & Dissident Daughters

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Photos: National Park Service,
Russell Lee, Marion Post Wolcott

September 2008
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Photo: Emily Kunstler

August 2008
DC Labor Chorus

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July 2008
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Go Down Moses

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Photo: NARA