“It Is the Union” Sheet Music (pdf).
“It Is the Union” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Richard Brazier.
Tune: “The Lads in Navy Blue.”
Sing a song of praise of toiling masses;
Sing a song about our sons of toil;
Sing of wrongs done to the working classes,
Wrongs that make our hearts boil.
We have always borne the blows and lashes.
No more we’ll patient stand,
But on every hand, throughout this splendid land,
We sons of toil will make our stand.
Then in our glory we will tow’r.
What will be the secret of our pow’r?
It is the Union, the Industrial Union:
Our banner is unfurled.
We will unite in all our splendid might
In the Industrial Workers of the World.
We have a Union, a fighting Union,
And our masters know that, too.
It will keep them in their place
When they know they have to face
Our Union of working folk that’s true.
For countless years and ages, we’ve been enslaved
Beneath the capitalistic rule;
We, the strong, cringing to those men depraved
In whose hands we have ever been a tool.
But the day of liberty is dawning;
Freedom now draws nigh.
We must unite to win this fight.
Wage slavery then will die.
Then in our glory we will tow’r.
Great then will be the workers’ pow’r.
It is the Union, the Industrial Union:
Our banner is unfurled.
We will unite in all our splendid might
In the Industrial Workers of the World.
We have a Union, a fighting Union,
And our masters know that, too.
It will keep them in their place
When they know they have to face
Our Union of working folk that’s true.