Which Side Are You On? -- Ani Difranco on Mountain Stage

at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences symphony hall. This song has a lot of history, and has been perfomed by a lot of great musicians, of course Ani Difranco most recently, but also Billy Bragg, Natalie Merchant, Pete Seeger, etc.

"Which Side Are You On?" was a song written by Florence Reece in 1931. She was the wife of a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky. In 1931 the miners of that region were locked in a bitter and violent struggle with the mine owners. In an attempt to intimidate the Reece family, deputies hired by the mining company illegally entered and searched the Reece family home. Sam Reece had been warned in advance and escaped, but Florence and their children were terrorized in his place. That night, after the men had gone, Florence wrote the lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?" on a calendar that hung in the kitchen of her home. She took the melody from a traditional Baptist hymn, "Lay the Lily Low", or the traditional ballad "Jack Munro". Florence recorded the song and it can be heard on the CD Coal Mining Women.

Reece supported a second wave of miner strikes circa 1973, as recounted in the documentary Harlan County USA. She and others perform "Which Side Are You On?" a number of times throughout.

The song is referred to by Bob Dylan in the song "Desolation Row".

• Category

  Music

[Linda Seaborn]

Florence Reece (1900-86) wrote the song 'Which Side Are You On?' – later recorded by Pete Seeger and many others – in 1931 during a strike by the United Mine Workers of America, in which her husband, Sam Reece, was an organiser. Reece appeared in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, Harlan County, USA, singing her anthem to rally the striking miners

Don't scab for the bosses

Don't listen to their lies

Poor folks ain't got a chance

Unless they organise.

– Florence Reece

[Rich McGervey]

Linda, the credit to Ms. Reece is already in the song info, but you have to click the down arrow to show it all. Thanks for adding.

[neverindoubt]

Not even Jesus could make much headway clearing out the scum sucking our blood now...Obama's doing the best he can, but so much resistance from the other side

[deatheater459]

niiice a tenor guitar!

[carolcheny]

Nearly the entire song is sung here lower than her usable vocal range. But probably that's because she couldn't hit the highs. Without anger, she's nothing.

[MSoulPoet]

She may not be a pretty girl, but she's a beautiful woman.

[madamebutterfly851]

@1timeuser0904 what a truly ignorant clown you must be. name calling is your only defense. I livedin Germany for 5 yesrs and the health care system is world class. Go hang yourself you pathetic waste of life.

[Stefan Batts]

Which side?? Why not a new one.