Paint ‘Er Red (Elmer Rumbaugh & Ralph Chaplin)

“Paint ’Er Red” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Paint ’Er Red” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).

Lyrics: Elmer Rumbaugh & Ralph Chaplin.
Tune: “Marching through Georgia.”


Come with us, you working folk, and join the rebel band;
Come, you discontented ones, and give a helping hand;
We march against the parasite to drive him from the land
With One Big Industrial Union!

Hurrah! Hurrah! We’re goin’ to paint ’er red!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The way is clear ahead!
We’re gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With One Big Industrial Union!

In factory and field and mine, we gather in our might;
We’re on the job and know the way to win our hardest fight;
For the beacon that shall guide us out of darkness into light
Is One Big Industrial Union!

Hurrah! Hurrah! We’re goin’ to paint ’er red!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The way is clear ahead!
We’re gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With One Big Industrial Union!

Come on, you fellows, get in line; we’ll fill the boss with fears;
Red’s the color of our flag; it’s stained with blood and tears;
We’ll flout it in his ugly mug and ring our loudest cheers
For One Big Industrial Union!

Hurrah! Hurrah! We’re goin’ to paint ’er red!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The way is clear ahead!
We’re gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With One Big Industrial Union!

“Slaves” they call us, “working plugs,” inferior by birth,
But when we hit their pocketbooks, we’ll spoil their smiles of mirth;
We’ll stop their dirty dividends and drive them from the earth
With One Big Industrial Union!

Hurrah! Hurrah! We’re goin’ to paint ’er red!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The way is clear ahead!
We’re gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With One Big Industrial Union!

We hate their rotten system more than any mortals do;
Our aim is not to patch it up but build it all anew;
And what we’ll have for government, when we’re finally through,
Is One Big Industrial Union!

Hurrah! Hurrah! We’re goin’ to paint ’er red!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The way is clear ahead!
We’re gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With One Big Industrial Union!


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