“The Call to Action” Sheet Music (pdf).
“The Call to Action” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: T. Phillips Thompson.
Tune: T. Phillips Thompson.
Men who by labor have fattened the sordid ones,
Lift up your heads from the dust where you bow,
Know that your birthrights, though heaven-accorded ones,
Vanish forever, unless rescued now.
Hear ye the trumpets sound,
Wake from your sleep profound,
Hurling your strength on the insolent foe;
Shake off each servile chain,
Stand for your rights again,
Victory waits but your resolute blow.
How have the arrogant robbers rewarded you?
What can ye show for your toil-broken lives?
Basely the men ye enrich have defrauded you,
Crushing the hearts of your children and wives.
Will ye supinely bear
Wrongs in your dumb despair,
Toiling on abjectly, shackled and blind?
Choose ye the nobler part,
Nerving each fainting heart,
Bravely to fight in the cause of mankind.
Rise to the height of sublime aspiration,
Born of the teachings of martyr and sage;
When the fullness of time brings the great consummation,
Its light will glow radiant on history’s page.
Down through the ages each,
Passes by thought and speech,
Lending an impulse to leaven the whole;
Thought is eternal force,
Holding its steady course,
Nothing can vanquish the strength of the soul.