The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey Industrial Union Council

“We are a street chorus, not a concert choir. Our preferred venue is a picket line. We try to lift the spirits of people engaged in struggle and help them to carry on. Only a few of us know how to read music, but we all know which side we’re on.”

These are lyrics of some of the songs sung by the Solidarity Singers.

FOUND A WAL-MART

Mimi Yahn (Raging Grannies)
Revised by Solidarity Singers, 2004
Tune: Found A Peanut (Clementine)

Found a Wal-Mart,
Found a Wal-Mart,
Found a Wal-Mart near my town,
Where there used to be a meadow
And a river and a farm.

Found our Main Street,
Found our Main Street
Boarded up and gone to hell.
Most the townsfolk shop at Wal-Mart
And the Waltons think it’s swell.

Found a pink slip,
Found a pink slip
In my paycheck yesterday,
‘ Cause my boss went out of business.
Wal-Mart drove my job away.

Found a new job,
Found a new job
At the Wal-Mart near my town.
Though I’ll work more and get paid less,
I will get a discount now!

Found my neighbors,
Found my neighbors
On the unemployment line.
Wal-Mart said they couldn’t use them
‘ Cause they tried to organize.

Found a Wal-Mart,
Found a Wal-Mart
Where our town’s life used to be.
Now we have no past or future,
All replaced by corporate greed.

HARK, THE WAL-MART BANNERS SAY

Dan Rodman (Raging Grannies), 2004
Revisions: The Solidarity Singers, 2005
Tune: Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Hark, the Wal-Mart banners say:
It’s made in the U.S.A.
Read the labels and you’ll see
Most things come from overseas.

Sweatshop factories exploit children,
While the Waltons rake in billions.
Tell us where your factories are!
Do they exploit the whole world’s poor?

Hark, to Wal-Mart, we do rage:
Workers deserve a living wage!

A quarter-an-hour in Honduras,
Just five cents in Bangladesh,
Seven-day weeks in Guatemala,
Indonesians earn ten cents!

Workers beaten for a blunder,
That’s the way you keep them under!
Tell us where your factories are!
Do they exploit the whole world's poor?

Hark, to Wal-Mart, we do rage:
Workers deserve a living wage!

Wal-Mart sweatshops won’t stay secret;
We will let the whole world see.
We refuse to spend our money
Fueling further corporate greed!

We want human rights today.
Wal-Mart, we won’t go away.
Tell us where your factories are!
Do they exploit the whole world’s poor?

Hark, to Wal-Mart, we all rage:
Workers deserve a living wage!

HOW MUCH IS THAT CHEAP STUFF?

Gail Sredanovic (Raging Grannies)
Revised by The Solidarity Singers, 2004
Tune: How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?

Chorus:
How much is that cheap stuff at your Wal-Mart?
It’s cheap, but at what human cost?
How much is that cheap stuff at your Wal-Mart?
For cheap prices, what have we lost?

How much are the wages at your Wal-Mart?
Is poverty level OK?
How much are the wages at your Wal-Mart?
Could you live on low Wal-Mart pay?

Chorus

How much stuff at Wal-Mart comes from sweatshops,
Where even young kids slave all day?
How much stuff at Wal-Mart comes from sweatshops,
Are horrid conditions OK?

Chorus

IT’S A SMALL WAGE AFTER ALL

Bennet Zurofsky & Dottie Gutenkauf, 2000
Jean Romsted (Wal-Mart verse)
Tune: It’s a Small World After All by Richard M. & Richard B. Sherman

It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears.
It’s a world of hope and a world of fears.
There’s so much we can share,
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small wage after all.

It’s a small wage after all!
It’s a small wage after all!
Around the world, working people sweat
For a small, small wage.

Children sweat all day for 28 cents,
And they can’t buy food
Or pay the rent,
While the Disney CEO
Makes a whole bunch of dough;
It’s exploitation after all!

It’s exploitation after all!
Exploitation after all!
Down in Haiti the children sweat
For a small, small wage.

In the Marianas, the women toil,
And they don’t set foot on American soil,
But the labels all say,
“ Made in USA”;
It’s deception after all!

It’s deception after all!
It’s deception after all!
In Saipan the women sweat
For a small, small wage.

Out in Chinese prisons and labor camps,
They make women’s clothes,
Children’s toys and lamps.
US firms make a heap,
For slave labor is cheap;
It’s oppression after all!
It’s oppression after all!
It’s oppression after all!
Out in China, the prisoners sweat
For a small, small wage.

Here, the Wal-Mart workers must watch their step;
They have no health insurance, no union rep;
And if they should complain,
There’s a pink slip with their name;
Intimidation, after all!

Intimidation, after all,
No union voice, no one to call.
We all lose when the Wal-Marts gain.
It’s a small wage after all!

Repeat first verse and chorus

Additional verse optional:

In the crowded cities of Pakistan
Children work all day as fast as they can.
They make surgical tools
and they don’t go to schools.
It’s injustice after all.

It’s injustice after all,
It’s injustice after all.
Medical tools make by children’s
sweat
For a small, small wage.

TOO MUCH POWER

Gail Sredanovic (Raging Grannies),
Revised by Jean Romsted &
The Solidarity Singers, 2004
Tune: Frere Jacques

Too much power, too much power-
Wal-Mart Stores, Wal-Mart Stores
Banish local business,
Disrespect their workers.
Don’t shop there, don’t shop there!

Bad for workers, bad for workers-
Wal-Mart Stores, Wal-Mart Stores
Won’t allow a union,
Disregard their safety.
Don’t shop there, don’t shop there!

Giant boxes, giant boxes-
Wal-Mart Stores, Wal-Mart Stores
Squeezing their suppliers,
Screwing all their hires,
Don’t shop there, don’t shop there!!

THE WAL-MART ROUND

Mimi Yahn (Raging Grannies)
Revised by The Solidarity Singers, 2004
Tune: Three Blind Mice

Wal-Mart sucks,
Wal-Mart sucks
The life out of towns,
The life out of towns.
The smaller stores have to close their doors,
And local economies fall through the floor.
On all their workers they’re waging war.
Yes, Wal-Mart sucks.

Wal-Mart stinks,
Wal-Mart stinks
Of corporate greed,
Of corporate greed.
They sell cheap goods made in lands far away
Where workers earn less than a dollar a day,
And human rights workers are driven away.
Yes, Wal-Mart stinks.

Wal-Mart blows,
Wal-Mart blows
Away union jobs,
Away union jobs.
Good wages and benefits – nothing but lies,
And they’ll fire you quick if you organize,
But they’ll be in trouble when workers get wise.
Yes, Wal-Mart blows.

WAL-MART STORES ARE COMING TO TOWN

Julie McCall, 2004
Tune: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

You’d better watch out, it’s happening fast,
Mom and Pop shops are a thing of the past.
Wal-Mart stores are coming to town.*
The corner store’s gone; it couldn’t compete
With mega-marts cov’ring a million square feet.
Wal-Mart stores are coming to town.

Three hundred billion dollars
They’re haulin’ in each year.
They’re the biggest corporation
In both the hemispheres.

They say they’re “just folks”, simple and plain;
We know damn well they’re Merchants of Shame.
Wal-Mart stores are coming to town.

You’d better take note if you’re in retail,
Tomorrow your job might be up for sale.
Wal-Mart stores are coming to town.
A poverty wage is what you’ll expect
When you’ve got the Waltons writing your check.
Wal-Mart stores are coming to town.

They’re slashing pay and prices
An endless downward race,
Destroying our economy
While they wear their happy face.

So, it’s time to say “NO”, we’re taking a stand:
Shopping for Justice, that is our plan.
Wal-Mart stores ain’t runnin’,
Wal-Mart stores ain't runnin',
Wal-Mart stores ain't runnin' this town!

*If Wal-Mart already there, sing throughout:
Wal-Mart stores are trashing our town.

WAL-MART OY VEY!

Lyrics: Bennet Zurofsky, 2005
Tune: I Had a Little Dreydle

Wal-Mart moved into our shtetl;*
Bull-dozed our woods away.
Their traffic jams up all our streets.
We all shout, “Oy vey!”

Chorus:
Oy, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart,
Our communities you wreck!
Oy, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart,
All you sell is dreck!**

They’re paying lousy wages;
They fire union folks all day;
Our Main Street is now boarded up.
We all shout, “Oy vey!”

Chorus

They’re schnorrers and goneyvim (schnorrers: parasites; goneyvim: thieves)
With the angles that they play
With their lobbying and sweatshops.
We all shout, “Oy vey!”

Chorus

Its time to get together
And stand in Wal-Mart’s way.
We will drive them from our shtetl,
Make Sam Walton shout, “Oy vey!”

Final chorus:
Oy, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart,
Your profits we will wreck!
Oy, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart,
We will flush out all your dreck!

(*shtetl: little village)

(**dreck: 1. excrement; 2. inferior merchandise)

Solidarity Singers