SIDE BY SIDE (ARTHUR STERN)

THE ALMANAC SINGERS, 1942: BESS HAWES, PETE SEEGER, MILLARD LAMPELL, WOODY GUTHRIE, ARTHUR STERN, SIS CUNNINGHAM (left to right)

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Arthur Stern based "Side by Side" on a traditional sea chantey; he sings lead on the recording.

Ronald D. Cohen & Dave Samuelson, liner notes for "Songs for Political Action," Bear Family Records BCD 15720 JL, 1996, p. 96.

Lyrics as recorded by THE ALMANAC SINGERS, New York, NY, c. Feb 1942, and reprinted ibid., p. 104.

ORIGINAL ISSUE: "DEAR MR. PRESIDENT," Keynote K-306-B (KEYNOTE ALBUM 111), 1942.
[ARTHUR STERN, lead vocal]

There stood a house upon the hill
Hullabaloo belay
Hullabaloo belah belay.
And in this house eight men did dwell
Hullabaloo belay.

One stood up and shook his fist...
"I'll get stronger than the rest"...

He first began to cheat and steal...
He then set fire to their fields...

They turned their heads and let him be...
Then he upped and murdered three...

It made no difference where he stood...
He left a footprint red with blood...

He murdered three and wanted more...
He turned upon the other four...

But when this murder he did try...
He found them standing side by side...

Side by side they fought that day...
They left his bones to rot away...

This is the ending of my song...
One was weak but four were strong...

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