“Dreadful Memories” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Dreadful Memories” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Sarah Ogan Gunning.
Tune: “Precious Memories.”
Dreadful mem’ries, how they linger,
How they ever flood my soul,
How the workers and their children
Die from hunger and from cold.
Hungry fathers, wearied mothers,
Living in those dreadful shacks.
Little children, cold and hungry,
With no clothing on their backs.
Dreadful gun thugs and stool pigeons
Always flock around our door.
What’s the crime that we’ve committed?
Nothing! only that we’re poor.
When I think of all the heartaches
And all the things that we’ve been through,
Then I wonder how much longer
And what a workingman can do.
We will have to join the union.
They will help us find a way—
How to get a better living
And for our work get better pay.
Really, friends, it doesn’t matter
Whether we are black or white.
The only way we’ll ever change things
Is to fight and fight and fight—
Is to fight and fight and fight.