“The Banner of Labor” Sheet Music (pdf).
“The Banner of Labor” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Anonymous.
Tune: “To Anacreon in Heaven.”
Oh say, can you hear, coming near and more near
The call now resounding: “Come all ye who labor”?
The Industrial Band, throughout all the land
Bids toilers remember, each toiler’s his neighbor.
Come, workers, unite! ’Tis humanity’s fight!
We call; you come forth in your unity and might.
And the Banner of Labor will surely soon wave
O’er the land that is free from the master and slave.
The blood and the lives of children and wives
Are ground into dollars for parasites’ pleasure;
The children now slave, till they sink in their grave
That robbers may fatten and add to their treasure.
Will you idly sit by, unheeding their cry?
Arise! Be ye brave! See, the battle draws nigh.
And the Banner of Labor will surely soon wave
O’er the land that is free, from the master and slave.
Long, long has the spoil of labor and toil
Been wrung from the workers by parasite classes;
While Poverty, gaunt, Desolation and Want
Have dwelt in the hovels of earth’s toiling masses.
Through bloodshed and tears, our day star appears,
Industrial Union, the wage slave now cheers.
And the Banner of Labor will surely soon wave
O’er the land that is free, from the master and slave.