Strike!

— Ry Cooder

From the My Name Is Buddy CD booklet...

Let's join Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse, and Reverend Tom Toad as they journey through time and space in the days of labor, big bosses, farm failures, strikes, company cops, sundown towns, hobos, and trains ... the America of yesteryear.

. . .

"That was no birthday party," Buddy is saying. "Those zinc miners had been to hell and back several times. But they sang out, and that's what they did best. When you sing out, you get strength and power. If you stay quiet and scared, you end up getting pushed around, in worse shape than before. You ever see a strikebreaker or a mining-boss cop sing? No, you ain't, because when you sing, you do it for the next fellow, and that's something the bosses and the cops can never understand. All they know is, beat up somebody and get paid doing it. That's a pretty bad way to live and pretty stupid.

But when those miners started singing, they could bring all kinds of folks in with them, including me: 'Union miners stand together'... made you feel good just to sing it, like you had friends you could count on."

---

Ry Cooder . . .

Strike!

Listen at 56k || Listen at 256k

I got off the train one evening in a little mining town
I started walking up the main street when the sun was going down
When I heard some voices singing, so I went to see what for
Might just be a birthday party, might be room for just one more.

It was miners and their families, they had left the mine that day
Walked out for safe conditions, on strike for decent pay
And they sang about their struggle and their spirit never failed
"Keep your hand upon the dollar and your eye upon the scale"

Union miners stand together, heed no operator's tale
Keep your hand upon the dollar and your eye upon the scale

Ry Cooder

All at once police came running, they came
      running everywhere
They broke up that miners' meeting and carried
      everyone to jail
But the miners kept on singing and they sang the
      whole night through
When the sun rose in the morning I had learned
      that miners' song

The judge he asked the police captain, What's
      that red cat doing here?
Get all the reds off the streets, sir, was your orders
      loud and clear
They turned me out of the jailhouse back door, but
      I wouldn't leave my miner friends
I jumped back to the jailhouse window and I sang
      that miner song again

Union miners stand together heed no operator's
      tale
Keep your hand upon the dollar and your eye upon
      the scale

---

New Cardboard Avenue Jaywalkers: Ry Cooder, vocals, guitar; Mike Seeger, fiddle, harmonica, jaw harp; Joachim Cooder, drums.

Ry Cooder is a member of AFM Local 47.

Production and sound: Ry Cooder, Don Smith, Sunny Levine, Martin Pradler, Aisha Ayers.

My Name Is Buddy CD: www.nonesuch.com/mynameisbuddy/

---

Music Archives

	May 2008 Pat Wynne When Rats Dream Pat Wynne, Bernard Gilbert Photo: NHGRI
	April 2008 George Mann Rest, Papa Rest George Mann Photo: Howard Goldbaum
	March 2008 Lynn Marie Smith Rebuilding The Union Movement Lynn Marie Smith, A Taste Of Honey Photo: Jim West
	February 2008 Dropkick Murphys Worker's Song (Handful of Earth) Ed Pickford Photos: Jim West, Fred Askew
	January 2008 Joe Uehlein Artists See The World In A Different Light Joe Uehlein, Dave Alvin Photo: FBI
	December 2007 Finest Kind Homeless Wassail Ian Robb Photo: Unknown
	November 2007 Guy Carawan Which Side Are You On? Florence Reece Photo: Harlan County Library
	October 2007 Paul Robeson Water Boy Avery Robinson Photos: Alan Lomax, Joseph John
	September 2007 Billy Bragg The Internationale Eugène Pottier, Pierre Degeyter, Billy Bragg Lithograph: Unknown
	August 2007 Si Kahn Go To Work On Monday Si Kahn Photo: Earl Dotter
	July 2007 The NewLanders The Altoona Freight Wreck Fred Tait-Douglas, Carson Robison Photo: Unknown
	June 2007 Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello And Now What? Zack de la Rocha Poster: Ahmed Resistol
	May 2007 Coco Brown I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson Oil: M. Baer
	April 2007 Ry Cooder Strike! Traditional, new verses by Ry Cooder Drawing: Vincent Valdez
	March 2007 Teresa Healy, Tom Juravich Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim, Tom Juravich Painting: Ralph Fasanella
	February 2007 Detroit Cultural Workers and Artists Caucus Walking 500 Days by Bob Vasseur Photos: Pat Beck, Daymon Hartley
	January 2007 New York City Labor Chorus Ode To Workers by Friedrich Schiller, L. V. Beethoven, Jeff Vogel Photo: Unknown
	December 2006 Charlie Bernhardt Children Of Abraham by John McCutcheon Photo: Jerry Anderson
	November 2006 Ted Warmbrand Who's The Criminal by Ted Warmbrand Photo: Mizue Aiseki
	October 2006 Woody Guthrie Buffalo Skinners by Woody Guthrie Painting: Neil Waldman.
	September 2006 Freedom Song Network Rockin' Solidarity by Ralph Chaplin, David Welsh Painting: Irving Fromer.
	August 2006 Seattle Labor Chorus Torn Screen Door by David Francey Photo: Eric Nelson
	July 2006 Emma's Revolution Bound For Freedom by Pat Humphries, Sandy O Puppet: SOAW Puppetistas
	June 2006 David Rovics Used To Be A City by David Rovics Photo: George Waldman
	May 2006 Len Wallace Leaving The Fishing Behind by Len Wallace Drawing: H. W. Elliott, J. W. Collins
	April 2006 Marc Blitzstein The Nickel Under The Foot by Marc Blitzstein Photo: Unknown
	March 2006 Judy Gorman Step By Step by American Miners Association, Waldeman Hille, Pete Seeger Cartoon: Mark Hurwitt
	February 2006 John Handcox The Planter And The Sharecropper by John Handcox Photo: Evelyn Munro Smith
	January 2006 Lynn Marie Smith U.N.I.O.N. by Henri Belolo, Jacques Morali, Lynn Marie Smith Photo: Rebecca Cook
	December 2005 John McCutcheon Christmas In The Trenches by John McCutcheon Drawing: Frederice Villiers
	November 2005 Davis Gloff, Michael Carluccio, Larry Schrock Radio, Guns, and Money by Steve Jones Poster: W. DeLappe, Holly Syrrakos
	October 2005 Chris Chandler, David Roe The Pageant of the Paterson Silk Strike by Chris Chandler, Lisa Stolarski John Henry's Slow Rag by David Roe Poster: Robert Edmund Jones
	September 2005 Brooklyn Women's Chorus We Were There by Bev Grant Ceramic mask: Geri Gventer
	August 2005 Anne Feeney Shut 'Cha Down by Anne Feeney Photo: United Airlines
	July 2005 Francisco Javier Herrera La Tierra by Eduardo Robledo Photo: Ellis Boal
	June 2005 Si Kahn He Lies In The American Land by Andrew Kovaly / Pete Seeger Photo courtesy of It's All Relative
	May 2005 Luci Murphy, Pam Parker Mother's Day by Peter Jones Publicity photos
	April 2005 Angel Martinez Memoirs of Bernardo Vega by Bernardo Vega, Juan Flores, César Andreu Iglesias Photo: Unknown
	March 2005 Pam Parker We Speak Louder Than Machines by Steve Jones Photo: Jim West
	February 2005 Maria Dunn Troublemaker by Maria Dunn Photo: Glenbow Archives
	January 2005 The Troublemakers Troublemakers Theme by Pauly Gailiunas Graphic: Ricardo Levins Morales
	December 2004 Joe Jencks Christmas In Mansfield by Joe Jencks Painting: Ray Tapajna
	November 2004 Kelly Wideman A Capella Banjo by Samuel Augustus Ward, Katherine Lee Bates, Earl Scruggs Photo: Jim West
	October 2004 Chris Bricker, George B, Utah Phillips, George Mann Hail To The Thief / Stupid's Pledge / I'm George W by George Mann, James Sanderson, Utah Phillips, Stephen Foster Cover art: Quenton of rushlimbaughonline.com
	September 2004 Laurel Blaydes, Joe Jencks, Chapman Zon What Will I Leave Behind / If I Had A Golden Thread by Si Kahn, Pete Seeger Photo: Jim West
	August 2004 Utah Phillips 1910 Spokane Free Speech Fight by Utah Phillips Photo: Roger Leisner
	July 2004 Dave Lippman I Hate Wal-Mart by Dave Lippman Photo: Jim West
	June 2004 Finland Station Unemployment Compensation Blues by Les Pine, Jerry Silverman Photo: Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration
	May 2004 John McCutcheon What It's Like by John McCutcheon Photo: Hormel Foods
	April 2004 Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger A Little A' This 'N' That by Pete Seeger
	March 2004 Charlie King & Karen Brandow Moving Day / We Shall Not Be Moved by Fred Stanton / Traditional Photo: Unknown
	February 2004 Fruit Of Labor Solidarity by Fruit Of Labor
	January 2004 Tom Juravich Ring Some Changes by Tom Juravich Photo: Ellis Boal
	December 2003 Anne Feeney War On The Workers by Anne Feeney Photo: Jim West
	November 2003 Rebel Voices Hospital Workers by Paul McKenna Photo: Ellis Boal
	October 2003 Águila Negra El Mojado by Flaco Jimenez Photo: Jim West
	September 2003 Joe Uehlein Jerusalem by Steve Earle Photo: Ellis Boal
	August 2003 AFT Singers We're An On-Time Union by Dottie Peoples, Gloria Britton-Ellis Photo: Michael Campbell
	July 2003 Jon Fromer, Francisco Herrera I Cannot Sleep by Malvina Reynolds Photo: Ellis Boal
	June 2003 Pat Wynne Toxic Dreams by Pat Wynne Photo: Pat Wynne
	May 2003 Susan Lewis, Janet Stecher, Luci Murphy Mean Things Happening / Roll The Union On Ain't You Got A Right by John Handcox, Guy Carawan Photos: Labor Heritage Foundation, Highlander Center
	April 2003 George Mann & Julius Margolin If I Only Had A Brain by Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, George Mann Photo: White House
	March 2003 Ray Korona The People Are In Charge by Ray Korona Album cover: David Beyda
	February 2003 Charlie King One Puppet Town by Charlie King Album cover: Mark Hurwitt
	January 2003 Pat Humphries No Sweat by Bev Grant Graphics: Margaret Randall, Pat Humphries
	December 2002 David King Reindeer Games by David King Doll: Linda Anderson
	November 2002 Bev Grant Labor Of Love by Bev Grant
	October 2002 Charlie Ray Fetty III The Mobile Inspirational by Charlie Ray Fetty III Colorado state fair parade float: USWA Local 2102
	September 2002 Joe Glazer The Mill Was Made Of Marble / I Ain't No Stranger Now by Joe Glazer

---

Songs not otherwise attributed were recorded at the annual Great Labor Arts Exchange in 2001, 2003, 2004, or 2005 at the National Labor College/George Meany Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. Engineers: Bob Barnes, Ellis Boal, Charlie Ray Fetty III, Joe Jencks, Ray Korona, George Mann, Dave Sless, Isaac Wilson.

Listen in streaming RealAudio on a 56k modem or better.
Download a free RealOnePlayer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) or QuickTime Player.

Listen at 56K | Listen at 256K