Songs to Rally the People
These are songs to rally people to hope and to act. We've mainly included songs that are easy to do at rallies, meetings, conferences, or in other settings where people may not have songbooks to look at lyrics (e.g. zipper songs). Send us your suggestions!
* easy songs (e.g. zipper songs)
Hope / endurance / solidarity / resistance
- One Foot (Lead with Love) by Melanie DeMore *
- None of Us Are Free rec by Ray Charles, Solomon Burke
- Better Times Will Come by Jan Ian
- Rise As One by Aaron Fowler *
- I'm Gonna Walk It with You by Brian Claflin & Ellie Grace
- We Shall Be Known by Karisha Longaker of MaMuse *
- I Lift My Voice by Andrea Ramsey
- Rise by Arianne Abela
- Resilient by Rising Appalachia
- Give Light by Greg Artzner & Terry Leonino (Magpie) *
- Still Looking for Freedom by Jon Fromer *
- What Must Be Done by Greg Greenway (formerly of Brother Son)
- The Way Knows the Way *
- Tyrants Always Fall by The Nields
Immigrant solidarity
- Marching into the Light by Andres Useche (written in respoonse to SB1090 law in Arizona)
- Dream to Belong by Andres Useche (in support of the Dream Act)
- Lady of the Harbor by Joe Jencks
- Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) by Woody Guthrie
- Stand Up by Mike Stern (based on the famous statement by Martin Niemoller with a final verse re refugees)
- So We Be by Ruth Pelham - on standing up to Islamophobia *
- I Am a Wanderer by Steve Earle (with a verse on being a refugee)
- Welcome, Welcome, Emigrante by Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Jesus Was a Refugee by The Nields
Racial justice / freedom
- Rise Up by Andra Day (has become an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movment)
- Ella's Song ("We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest") by Bernice Johnson Reagon
- I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table *
- Somebody's Hurting My Brother by Yara Allen (of Poor People's Campaign) *
- I'm Gonna Lift My Sister Up by Faya Rose Toure *
- Hatred Has No Place by David Heitler-Klevans *
- I Need You to Survive by David G. Frazer (gospel anthem with alternative lyrics)
More in Freedom chapter of Rise Up Singing: (* great zipper songs for adding new verses)
- Ain't Gonna Let Nobody (Turn Me Around) *
- Harriet Tubman by Walter Robinson (with additional verse on immigrant justice by John McCutcheon)
- Hold On ("Keep Your Eyes on the Prize") *
- I'm On My Way *
- It Isn't Nice by Malvina Reynolds
- O Freedom! *
- Woke Up This Morning *
Gun violence
- A Way Out of No Way by Sally Rogers (based on words of John Lewis from his sit-in in the House in June 2016)
- Knocking on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan with new words by Ted Christopher
- Throw the Guns Away by Ted Christopher (written for children of Dunblaine, Scotland)
Climate / earthcare
- The Tide Is Rising by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman & Yotam Schacter *
- We Are Saving Noah's Cargo new words by Fred Small to tune of "Jacob's Ladder" *
- We Belong to the Earth by Greg Artzner & Terry Leonino (of Magpie)
- The Earth Is Our Mother an anonymous chant - possibly derived from Lakota source *
- Love Song to the Earth by Paul McCartney
- Truth to Power performed by OneRepublic (from the film "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power")
- This Changes Everything by Ben Grosscup
See Ecology chapter in Rise Up Singing
See Earthcare chapter in Rise Again
Economic justice / poverty
- Rich Man's House by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union & Anne Feeney *
- If You Want Peace, Work for Justice by Charlie King *
- I Cannot Sleep by Malvina Reynolds
- More Than Enough by Robb Johnson
- Arbeter Froyen / Working Women (new lyrics to a great Yiddish labor song)
Please email us suggestions of other great songs - especially ones that work well at rallies and meetings to fire people up! Contact us at info@riseupandsing.org
