Why We Sing
Songs when sung together for a common cause bring strength and perseverance and form a quick bond of camaraderie and oneness. Historically, labor songs for the most part, were not written to new tunes but were instead adapted from the familiar, the tunes that everyone knew and could readily embrace although the words were new. Here are a few of the reasons why songs are so important to the movement:
A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over. --Joe Hill, quoted in liner notes for Don’t Mourn, Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill
Music is an important tool in the labor movement to motivate workers and help build solidarity. Labor songs detail political issues, glorify martyrs and heroes in the movement, and, most of all, inspire and uplift workers. --Smithsonian Folkways
Singing to me is the most inspirational thing that you can do to organize labor. If you're making a speech, that's just you doing it. But when you get all of them singing, they have a different feeling. They have a feeling that they're a part of what's going on. --John Handcox
Songs are so emblematic of the labor movement that some unions have collaborated to form choral groups that lend their voices at rallies, demonstrations, meetings and public concerts. The New York City Labor Chorus, for instance, traveled to Sweden in 1997 where they "performed at a five day festival in Uddevalla, along with thousands of chorus members from throughout Scandinavia."[1] Choral groups such as the D. C. Labor Chorus, the Seattle Labor Chorus and the Twin Cities Labor Chorus hold musical events that aim to educate, inspire, and affirm through song the impact of unions on the quality of life of workers across all industries and borders.
1. New York City Labor Chorus | Who we Are, http://www.nyclc.org/whoweare.shtml