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FIGHT ON SISTERS . . .AND OTHER SONGS

FOR LIBERATION BY CAROL HANISCH

m ^ "^A

IfiC m FRflH LUU 7?

Dedicated to the brave and determined

women of the Women's Liberation Movement

who give expression and life to the

deepest feelings, desires and hopes

of women everywhere.

And to the radical songwriters and

singers who have inspired and taught

the world—especially the women,

who have had to fight for the

right to do it.

Contents INTRODUCTION 3

FIGHT ON SISTERS 4

MATCH MY THUNDER 6

BEDROOM BACKLASH 8

WE WANT IT ALL 10

I GOTTA LEARN TO SING 12

YOU BETTER STOP BLAMING WOMEN 14

SISTERS OF THE SUN 16

NOT WITH MY LIFE YOU DON'T 17

SONG OF THE OPPRESSED 18

WE'LL FIND THE WAY 20

YOU REACHED ME 2 2

WHAT WE OWE THE WORLD 2 4

AFTERWORD 2 6

This iongbook came about with help and/on. encouragement ^nom Enjxnces COKXOII, Ruth Leo$£, Vedi Matga/iet, MaA.gan.et McVoy, Nelson Meyen., Eleanor. Penny, John Penny, Irene Pesllklt,, Tom Siblo, Bob Weil.

And especially Sit, Cunningham, Anne T-onen and Barbara Leon.

With special appn.ecJjxtA.on ^on The Almanac!,, the Black Civil Rights Movement, Sis Cunningham, Woody Gutknie, Peter LaFarge, Matty McCaslin, Von Mclean, Phil Ocht>, Tom Paxton, Malvina Reynolds, Peggy Seegen, Pete. Seegen, The Weavers and countlest, others who&e music helped me faind my t>ong.

front coven, design and artwork by Than Luck

Photot, on pages 13 and 28 by Eve. Leo^

Copyright © 1978 by Carol Hanisch

All rights reserved, including public performance for profit. Any arrangement or adaptation of the compositions in this book without the consent of the owner is an infringement of copyright.

Cover artwork © 1978 by Fran Luck

Photos on pages 13 and 28 © 1978 by Eve Leoff

Printed September 1978 by Franklin printing, New P a l t z , flew York

introduction You have just opened one of the most thought provoking little songbooks to come out in a long time. Radical? You bet! And right on target. These songs were unmis­takably written by one who lives by the principle of the commitment of the artist— in this case, commitment to the Women's Liberation Movement.

Songs are, and have been for several centuries, right out there in front. Go back through history (socio-economic) and you will find that the singing movements were the ones which brought about notable social changes: reforms, revolutions—at any rate, some sort of improvement in the human condition.

Here is a songbook put together by a woman, all songs written by a woman, mostly about the situation women face in a world dominated by men. We need a songbook like this one; we need a whole crop of them springing up everywhere. But sadly there aren't many; I haven't seen many.

There's nothing obscure about the lyrics of these songs. Carol Hanisch writes— and sings—very plainly what she means, and there's no fuzzing up of the issues, the main one being that women have got to get together and throw off the deep fears of doing something (or leaving something undone), saying something, (or leaving something unsaid) which might offend or upset the man who's been kind of running her life. Or the men: husband or boy friend, boss, foreman, head of the union, the fellow who manages the corner supermarket, crew leader, director, or whatever. These relationships are what Carol deals with in nearly all of these songs: the basic, often subtle, always complex, day-to-day gut level relationships which dam up a woman's creative outlets.

And yet in none of these songs do we find the suggestion that women's oppression is a hopeless condition or the escape into fantasies of women separating from men in a permanent way. The fight is to change men's attitudes and actions—to remove their unjust power over women—so that a genuine unity of the sexes is possible. The writer of these songs recognizes the need for this unity, not only in the man-woman relationship—as beautifully expressed in "Match My Thunder" and humor­ously dramatized in the very catchy "Bedroom Backlash"—but also in the broader aspect of class struggle. The capitalist class, to maintain itself in power, must of necessity keep us all in subjection—men, women, all races, all colors; hence all must work together to exterminate once and for all that numerically small anti-human ruling clique. In this sense the songs "What We Owe the World", "We'll Find the Way" and "Song of the Oppressed" are right in there and much to the point.

When you listen to Carol sing her songs, she makes you say to yourself, "Hey, that's the way it is; I never could put my finger on it before, but there it is!" And you'll want to sing that song which has pointed out something to you—pass it on to others. These are songs to be teamed and sung, not left on the pages of a book. And don't sing them just to groups of women; try them on the guys. You might hear some man say (he'll probably whisper it), "Hey, I never thought of it quite that way before." -.

^>-<^o

[Sit, Cunningham it, hounding, zditon o& the national topical! iong quanteAly BROADSWE. A contempoiatiy 0(j Woody GuthtUz, the Mat, a mcmfaci o& the Almanac Singext, and Oklahoma't, Red Vut>t PlayeJU, at, mil at, a ladical activist and onganizex o& iuch gnoupt, at, the Unemployed Council and the Southern Tenant T-atwetu, Union. She necently neleated a BROADSIDE album entitled SUHDOWN.)

FIGHT ON SISTERS

There has been a definite lack of women's liberation songs from the WLM. Most "women's songs" arc cither lesbian-feminist (women loving women) or socialist-feminist (women fighting for socialism). It was this lack more than anything else that prompted me to start writing songs. I needed them in my life and I suspected other women did too. This was the first. I put it to a favorite folk tune because I wanted women to be able to sing it easily and because I was convinced I couldn't write a melody.

Words: By Carol Hanisch. (t) Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch Tune: Based on "Roll On Columbia" by Woody Guthrie which was based on "Goodnight, Irene" by Huddie Ledbetter & John Loma*

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Reprinted from MEETING GROUND, #4, March 1978.

When we started this movement 'bout ten years ago Men laughed and said that it never would grow But we raised up our voices and we let'em know Fight on sisters, fight on.

CHORUS: Fight on sisters, fight on Fight on sisters, fight on Our power will grow and our dreams will be won If we fight on sisters, fight on.

Our foremothers visions would not let them rest They fought for their freedom from the east to the west They won some hard battles; we must win the rest So fight on sisters, fight on.

Telling the truth about sex, love and men We examined our lives and again and again It was male supremacy we found we must end So fight on sisters, fight on.

The bosses claim women just aren't qualified To work at the good jobs for which we applied But we talked to each other and found out they lied Fight on sisters, fight on.

The Miss America Pageant we did protest The curlers, the girdles, high heels and the rest That torture a woman — our real self is best Fight on sisters, fight on.

We disrupted a hearing on abortion reform Telling the panel — 14 men and a nun That WE are the experts; our bodies our own We fight on sisters, fight on.

We know as we knew we must do it alone The war for our freedom can never be won Unless we grasp hold and make it our own Fight on sisters, fight on.

We've made some mistakes now and don't get it wrong The forces against us are wily and strong But we're gettin' smarter as we go along And fight on sisters, fight on.

Now some say the problem is all in our head While others proclaim that our movement is dead But we'll rise up again, our anger still red And we'll fight on sisters, fight on.

MATCH MY THUNDER (THE RADICAL WOMAN'S LAMENT)

When I first read that women in China said they choose their husbands on the basis of their politics, I thought, "How unromantic'. What about love?" But then I got to realizing that we, too, often TRY to choose men on that basis—that a man's good politics (to the extent that he has any) is often why we fall in love with him in the first place. The familiar pattern, though, is that we continue to grow politically and he stops and before long he feels threatened by our political thunder and lightning and he leaves. Or, as Sherry Lipsky wrote recently, "As soon as they find out I am a radical woman, they can't run fast enough."

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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How many times have men woke us only to fall asleep themselves a little further down that long road and we must go on ourselves.

CHORUS: Match my thunder with your thunder. Match my dreams with your own. Match my lightning with your own light. Don't make me go on alone.

I tried to follow follow the fellow who follows the dream but before long I am leading and he won't come with me.

When a woman gets independent a man holds back on love. Though she wants him more than ever he hides in a world of his own.

Oh t o g e t h e r we c o u l d move m o u n t a i n s t e a r emperors from t h e i r t h r o n e s b u t my t h u n d e r and l i g h t n i n g s c a r e you and I end up f i g h t i n g a l o n e .

Radical feminism believes that the popularized version of love has thus been used politically to cloud and justify an oppressive relationship between men and women, and that in reality, there can be no genuine love until the need to CONTROL the growth of another is substituted by the love FOR the growth of the other.

- MANIFESTO OF THE NEW YORK RADICAL FEMINISTS

BEDROOM BACKLASH

This started out to be a sort of country-style song called, "Now He's the One Who's Cot a Headache Every Night," but somehow it ended up like this. The "Yes, Wo" idea came from a very male supremacist song by Josh White ("Where Were You Babe") sung frequently by Don McLean, which goes "And so we'll turn the lights down low to keep the bulbs from getting hot, and we'll play a little game called 'Yes' 'No' 'Wily not'.'" My version seems to be more what is happening these days. Every step forward brings a backlash or new problems to be tackled.

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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It was not so long ago men had all the say when it came to making love at the end of a weary day.

He'd make his moves with no regard for feelings she might have 'til in resistance she would claim the headache everyone laughs at.

/And i t ' s Yes . No. Y e s . No. S o r r y I g o t a h e a d a c h e .

Oh f o r t h e d a y when women g e t f r e e . Oh f o r t h e d a y when men a c c e p t i t . No more shames No more games J u s t y e s , y e s , y e s !

kit feminists agree that love and sexuality must be redefined. But some 0(5 them deny that men have any part to play in a woman't> li^e, particularly in her sexual li^e, whereas others wish to keep a place faor them in their lives and in their beds. I iide with them. I utterly revolt at the idea ofa shutting women up in a feminine ghetto.

- SIMONE VE BEAUl/OIR

Because we have lived t>o intimately with our oppressors, in isolation farom each other, we have been kept ^rom seeing our personal su^ering at, a political condi­tion. This creates the illusion that a woman's relationship with her man is a matter 0(J interplay betiueen two unique personalities, and can be worked out in­dividually. In reality, each such rela­tionship is a CLASS relationship, and the conflicts between individual men and women are POLITICAL conflicts that can only be solved collectively.

-THE REDSTOCKINGS MANIFESTO

Women's l i b e r a t i o n came a l o n g s a i d men c a n ' t have a l l t h e say of i f and how and where and when a t t h e end of a weary d a y .

For woman w a n t s h e r f a i r s h a r e t o o i n p l e a s u r e a s i n pay b u t he s t i l l w a n t s t o be t h e b o s s so he t u r n s away

With No. Yes . No. Yes . Damn it, woman, I've got a headache.

Oh for the day when women get free. Oh for the day when men accept it. No more shames No more games Just yes, yes, yes!

10

WE WANT IT ALL

One way the oppressor—acting in the interests of male supremacy or capitalism or both—tries to stop the oppressed from making just demands is by threatening us with false choices: we can have a family OR a career, nuclear plants OR no electricity, low wages OR layoffs, clean air OR jobs, and on and on and on. You'd think love and respect would go together naturally. The fact that women don't often seem to be able to get both from the same man at the same time just further proves how unnatural male supremacy really is. When my long-time relationship with a man broke up recently, this was one of the major reasons. Thus this song.

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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We were at a meeting trying to decide how to break the yoke on working folk how to organize. I spoke right up, put forth my plan the best that I could but when I looked into his face I knew I'd lost his love.

One day he was cutting wood gettin' tired as could be. Work goes better if you share it or so it seemed to me. So I grabbed the chain saw finished off that tree feeling good until I saw him glarin' at me.

One night I reached out for him he turned his back on me I knew that I had lost again in my desire to be free. A man won't love a woman who tries to be all she can 'stead of building up his ego 'til he feels the towering man.

I said there's something wrong here Why must you make me choose I want respect, I want your love I've more than paid my dues. They must go together Love and Respect if a man and a woman are really to connect.

Oh sisters, this dilemma seems more than I can stand. We've got to get together make the boy into a man. Sisters, oh sisters it's very plain to see we've got to make them love us by any means necessary!

CHORUS: verses 1 - 4 His eyes said you can have my love but then you'll not have my respect OR you can have my respect but then you'll not have my love.

Oh yes I sure do want respect Women don't get much of it. But I know that to be free I must also have your love.

Yes, yes, I want it all.

(verse 5) Oh yes we sure do want respect. Women don't get much of it. But we know that to be free we must also be loved. Yes, yes, we want it all.

(verse 6) Then he'll say you can have my love right along with my respect and you can have my respect right along with my love.

Oh yes we sure do want respect. Women don't get much of it. But we know that to be free We must also be loved.

Yes, yes, we'll have it all.

12

I GOTTA LEARN TO SING

This song, of course, is about more than music. If women have a place, it's at the heart of everything. Men, for the most part, don't want to move over since it means more competition for them, whether it's as folksingers or miners. It's up to us to put ourselves in there, both as individuals and as the oppressed sex.

Words and music by Carol Hanisch (c) Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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I've always had a weakness for a guitar man 'specially if he could sing. And I've always had a weakness for a banjo man if he could really pluck those strings. And I've always had a weakness for a fiddle man if he could play with soul country, western, rhythm & blues folk or rock and roll.

But now I gotta pluck my own banjo strum my own guitar. I gotta play on my own fiddle put myself in there. Cause somehow lookin' on ain't enough if you gotta make the rafters ring. A woman can go lookin' on forever and never learn to sing.

If it is not a fit place for for

women, it men to be

is unfit there.

— SOJOURNER TRUTH

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banjo man if he can really pluck those strings. And I'll always have a weakness for a

fiddle man if he can play with soul country, western, rhythm & blues folk or rock and roll.

But I'm gonna pluck my own banjo strum my own guitar. I'm gonna play on my own fiddle put myself in there. Cause somehow lookin' on ain't enough I wanna make the rafters ring. I can't go lookin' on forever I'm gonna learn to sing.

14

YOU BETTER STOP BLAMING WOMEN Words and music by Carol Hanisch

(c) Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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15

INTRO

Too many times I've heard the tune that women are to blame for what goes wrong in a good man's life for his hard luck and his pain. I'm telling you that it's not true though you sing it loud and strong. It's time to set the record straight and right this one big wrong.

You want to screw the banker's daughter while the banker goes scot free and when life's a hassle you take it out on me. You only tell your boss to shove it When your woman's left you blue. Stand up on your own two feet is what I ask of you.

You say that we're too sexy causing crimes of assault. Since men just can't control themselves rape is our own fault. Yet you say that modern women just aren't quite the same and lovin' isn't fun no more cause we won't play your game.

I know the unemployment line grows longer every day and you say you're standing in it cause I took your job away. Well, I want as much, I eat as much as Sojourner Truth once said and I ain't gonna pay for it by making your bed.

You say that you are leaving cause I asked you to stay when it's really that you got to have it all your own way. You even blame me for your standing still when it's you who will not move and I must go running on alone 'cause it's all I can do.

If you'd dare be honest you'd very quickly see the one who's standing on your heels surely isn't me. It's someone far above you not someone here below and sometimes it's your own damn self as if you didn't know.

CHORUS

You b e t t e r s t o p b l a m i n g women i n y o u r l i f e a n d i n y o u r s o n g . Why c a n ' t y o u a c c e p t i t a n d a d m i t when y o u a r e w r o n g ? I n s t e a d y o u g e t y o u r d a n d e r u p a n d y o u t r y t o s a v e y o u r f a c e . Y o u ' r e h o l d i n g u p t h e p r o g r e s s o f t h e w h o l e human r a c e .

But tonight I think I'm gonna take some good advice,

I'm gonna look around and ^ind me somebody who's real nice.

Well, perhaps a banker's daughter And i& her papa's a cuss

I hope to do to her What her papa does to us.

- irom "WHERE WERE VOU BABE" by Josh White

as Sung by DOW McLEAN

Take this job and shove it I ain't workin' here no more My woman done gone And took all the reason I was workin' {,or.

irom "TAKE THIS JOB AMD SHOVE IT" by VMW ALLAN COE

as sung by JOHNW PAYCHECK

Women's activists groups concerned about rape should follow the old saying an ounce o^ prevention is worth a pound o& cure. I'm trying to say to women, stop teasing. ... Whether you like it or not, a woman's a sex object and they're the ones who turn the man on generally. ... This community is known to be per­missive. Should we punish a !5- or 16-year-old boy who reacts normally to it?

- EX-JUDGE ARCHIE SIMOWSON Madison, Wisconsin

16

SISTERS OF THE SUN

All the matriarchist/goddess worshiping/moon women mumbo jumbo of the cultural feminists prompted this song. I heard the phrase "sister of the sun" on a Brewer and Shipley album in reference to something entirely different, but the idea clicked.

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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Better to be sisters of the sun then sisters of the moon Better to be lighting up a new day then reflecting the old. Better to be sisters of the sun.

Rising up. Taking hold. Being all that we can be. Use our minds. Use our strengths. We shall make us free.

Rising up. Taking hold. Doing all that we can do. With our hands. With our heads. And our hearts to see us through.

17

NOT WITH MY LIFE YOU DON'T

This was the first and only song I ever wrote...until recently. It was back in 1966 and not many people heard it then, partly because, although I thought the melody was "original", I was so unsure of myself and understood so little about songwriting, I was scared that somebody would recognize it and proclaim that I had stolen i t . That seems pretty silly to me now, but all kinds of fears creep in when you do something you've never done before. I've updated a few of the verses and included it here because I always liked the spirit of that old SDS phrase. At least that's where I think it came from. If anybody knows just who it was coined the phrase, I'd like to hear.

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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to stay here in my place... to shut up and qo alonq... to let you think for me... not to question why... to fear to take a stand... to always play it safe... to cool my passions out... to scorn those I come from.., to claim that I am free... to hate all I don't know... to chase money like it's God, to qet cynical and qive up.. . . ETC . . .

SONG OF THE OPPRESSED The dedication in the Redstockings book, FEMINIST REVOLUTION, inspired this one:

- to all the oppressed of this earth whose dynamism and strength is stolen

for exploitation by others and who fly when they break their chains.

August 26, 1970

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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19 From our hands comes the labor that brinqs fruit from the earth and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

And from our minds come creations that make life better for us all and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

We know the strife and the dark of the niqht and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

From our lives comes the knowledqe to know where we must qo and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

From our necessity comes the couraqe to fan the winds of chanqe and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

From our anger comes the power to push our way on throuqh and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

They cannot keep us forever locked up and on our knees and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

In our history is the promise that we will get free and when we break our chains how we fly how we fly

As we qrasp the future with our hands and with our minds and as we break our chains how we fly how we fly

20

WE'LL FIND THE WAY

This tune has long been a favorite of mine but the words were "pie in the sky" religious, so I wrote some new ones when I found myself singing it &hile driving along in the car alone one night. The old version starts out, "One fine morning, when this life is over, I'll fly away." (The old version is quite a comment on the state of things: people having to look to death as better than life in this world.)

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Words: by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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21

VERSE

We are the people This land is ours We'll find the way To take it away from Those who would destroy it We'll find the way.

We are the people We are the builders We'll find the way When we wake up And know that we must build it We'll find the way.

We are the people We are the thinkers We'll find the way When we wake up And know we must create it We'11 find the way.

We are the people We are the soldiers We'll find the way When we wake up And know we must do battle We'll find the way.

We are the common Yet we are uncommon And we'll find the way When we know And build upon our greatness We'll find the way.

We are the people This land is ours We'll find the way When we know Our power as the people We'll find the way.

CHORUS

We'll find the way We'll find the way To take it away from Those who would destroy it We'll find the way.

We'll find the way We'll find the way When we wake up And know that we must build it We'll find the way.

We'll find the way We'll find the way When we wake up And know we must create it We'll find the way.

We'll find the way We'll find the way When we wake up And know we must do battle We'll find the way.

We'll find the way We'll find the way When we know And build upon our greatness We'll find the way.

We'll find the way We'll find the way When we know Our power as the people We'll find the way.

22

YOU REACHED ME

The damn greedy capitalists steal more than our labor; they make it extremely hard to get hold of and get out good ideas and good art. Every once in awhile, though, somebody makes it into our lives in some way and teaches us something about ourselves and the world that moves us to a new level of understanding which we feel compelled to pass on to others. People who change our lives in this way, we love forever, so this is kind of a love song. Words and music by Carol Hanisch

© Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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23

You made me want You made me reach You took the pain That made me weak You cleared my eyes You made me able You reached me Somehow you reached me Through the haze.

The haze is lies The haze is greed It hides our feelings Hides our needs Until a touch Felt in the haze Is a treasure A gift for life A truth ablaze.

To make us want To make us reach To stop the fear (pain) That makes us weak To clear our eyes To make us able To reach out Somehow to reach out Through the haze

(Instrumental verse)

So make me want And make me reach Take the pain That makes me weak Clear my eyes And make me able To reach out Somehow to reach out Through the haze.

The haze of lies The haze of greed That hides my feelings Hides my needs Until a touch Felt in the haze Is a treasure A gift for life A truth ablaze.

I'll make you want I'11 make you reach I'll stop the fear (pain) That makes you weak I'll clear your eyes I'll make you able To reach out Somehow to reach out Through the haze.

(Instrumental verse)

And when we want And when we reach We'll stop the fear That makes us weak We'll see so clear We will be able To reach out And to walk out Of the haze.

24

WHAT WE OWE THE WORLD The beginnings of this song came to me while sitting at a Joan Baez concert in 1977 with my ears plugged against the blathering rock music she's into these days. Somehow the contrast between what I was hearing from her and what she was singing a decade ago was provoking. But the song is really about all of us as we learn from the fight of people to change their lives and use that knowledge to change our own, and in the process move the human race forward.

Words and music by Carol Hanisch © Copyright 1978 by Carol Hanisch

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25

I read some books the other day 'bout what's gone on before Of people fighting to be free and a whole lot more The books said why--the books said how—in oh so many lands The people lost, the people won, and the light came crashing in

CHORUS: Use it brother, use it It's what you owe the world Use it sister, use it It's what we owe ourselves Use it people, use it It's what you owe the world Use it people use it It's what we owe ourselves

Folks who lived here years ago had things a whole lot worse They had to work 14 hour days and six long days a week They orqanized against the boss who stole their lives away The union fights were bitter ones, we have a debt to pay.

In Mississippi and all over the land we got a good look see At brave black people marching and fighting to be free And what we heard and what we saw is with us to this day We who learned those lessons, we have a debt to pay.

There was a war in Vietnam not many years ago The rich man sought to plunder, the workinq folks said "no" The Vietnamese people held their qround 'til Uncle Sam qot out Couraqe and intelliqence is what it's all about.

Women now have risen up aqainst male supremacy Staked their claim for freedom and for equality Rebuked and scorned, they firmly push ahead with all their might Buildinq on the knowledqe their fiqht has brouqht to liqht.

Now it is not an easy job to turn the world around But in us all there is the strenqth if it can but be found We're not alone, we're not the first to seek a better day The lessons from the past came hard, we have a debt to pay.

The struqqle still goes on today in every sinqle land Anyone with sense can see this world is chanqinq hands The human race moves forward, learninq all the while We qain an inch, we lose a foot, and then we take a mile.

26

Afterword Except for politics, I have never encountered an area of life so rigidly male supremacist as music—radical folk music included. And when you try to put the two—music and politics—together, you really come up against it.

I used to figure that if you were superbly talented it wouldn't be so bad, but then I read that Joan Baez said that she didn't write songs for a long time because Bob Dylan told her she was no good at it. And I hear Pete Seeger on stage talking about the old days with the Almanac Singers and not once mentioning the women members, as if Sis Cunningham and Bess Hawes never existed as part of that important group.

I know from my own short few months of experience of playing in public that for common musicians, at least, the male supremacy toward women musicians is terrible.

Musicians learn, in good part, by playing with other musicians who can say, "Why don't you try it this way." Men, despite the heavy competition among them, share their musical knowledge with each other all the time. When a woman comes on the scene, if she's even allowed near it, it's like walking into the local segregated bar or the political or corporate boardroom. Icicles wouldn't melt. Learning out of a book is hard; learning by yourself through trial and error is like having to go back and reinvent the wheel. Women, particularly those just starting out, are frozen out of this means of learning, which is one way that music is kept very much a male domain.

Men often intimidate women into musical silence. I was at a livingroom "hootenanny" recently where the women, for the most part, sat clutching

Almanac Singers (from left to right) Woody Guthrie, Millard Lampell, Bess Hawes, Pete Seeger, Arthur Stern and Sis Cunningham.

their instruments instead of playing them. I didn't play much either. It's really hard to just "put yourself in there." One reason is that a lot of men play music so competitively that you don't want to play with them anyway. They're more interested in posturing than sharing good music, in being vain, loud, and/or supercool. (And I'm talking about "folk" musicians, not just rock musicians.)

Another crucial means of learning is public performance. As I can see, that's where you learn to control your music and communicate it to people. It's one thing to make music in your own living room and quite another to play in public, even for small groups. At a few open mike events I've parti­cipated in, I was made to feel I didn't belong on stage, before I even opened my mouth or plucked a string. Of course, there are some men who know, because of the consciousness brought about by the Women's Liberation Movement, that they shouldn't do this, so they patronize you instead. Sometimes this takes the form of getting you on and off the stage fast so they can get on with the real music with a clear conscience.

Neither criticism or applause is any good if it isn't honest. Because of this it's often difficult to know how to evaluate your own work. For women this is doubly bad because it's often hard to tell what is honest and what is because you are a woman.

Some women have sought to resolve these problems of male supremacy by playing with and for women only. Some of us, however, see this as a retreat from the problem of male supremacy and very limiting in both the audience we reach and our need to improve our work.

Criticism from other women is not always reliable either. On the one hand are the women who believe everything a woman does should be "supported" and are therefore afraid to offer constructive criticism. On the other hand are women who resent you for doing something they themselves can't or won't do or who are embarrassed to see a woman in the process of learning rather than appearing all polished and perfect. Of course this latter is a general problem in this society where appearance and professionalism are so much more important than content and communication of feeling.

I have written this because I hope there will be women who will be inspired by this songbook to write and sing songs about us, about our daily lives and about our struggles to break our chains. I have been appalled at the resistance my music has met, the male supremacy that I have found even among radical musicians. I'm telling you what's happened to me so you'll know what to expect if you decide to take instrument in hand and go to it. I've had many moments of doubt. It isn't easy. I say all this not to discourage but to strengthen.

As Woody Guthrie used to say, "Take it easy, but take it." We must!

Fight on sisters!

Carol Hanisch was a founding member of New York Radical Women and had the original idea for the Miss America Protest in 1968 where she was one of four women who hung the women's liberation banner inside Convention Hall. Her articles have appeared in NOTES FROM THE FIRST YEAR, NOTES FROM THE SECOND YEAR, VOICES FROM WOMEN'S LIBERATION, WOMAN'S WORLD and various other women's liberation books and publications. She was an editor of the Redstockings book FEMINIST REVOLUTION (1975) and currently is founding editor of MEETING GROUND. Originally from rural Iowa, she worked in the Mississippi civil rights movement and was a women's liberation activist and organizer in New York City and Gainesville, Florida. She now lives in New Paltz, New York.

Comments, criticisms and suggestions regarding the contents of this book are welcome and can be sent to the address below.

A D D I T I O N A L C O P I E S o f t h i s book a r e a v a i l a b l e f r o m : FIGHT ON SISTERS P . O . BOX 7

Make c h e c k s p a y a b l e t o " F i g h t On S i s t e r s S o n g b o o k . " NEW PALTZ, NY 12561

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(Proceeds from FIGHT ON SISTERS will go to support MEETING GROUND, a publication dedicated to the liberation of women and working people. Sample issue available from the above address.)

I know there are lots of songs that women aren't sharing 'cause we've been told by no-good people that our songs are no good. —JUDY BUSCH

Our best words--sincere, love, hope, happy--have been so misused, that they are only good enough for a joke. Or an emetic. They are used to sell hair spray, real estate, political platforms, wars; they are worn out, and can't be used to talk with anymore. ... I have worked and lived with language all my life. I try to make singing poetry that means. I try to rescue talk from hairspray. - MALVINA REYNOLDS

•O This song came out of my head, not from the point of a pen. —AUNT MOLLY JACKSON

y Songs can be memorized when printing is difficult. Songs can go places and do things and cross borders which people cannot.

We don't need any more wistful songs--we need songs that teach us how to fight. - PETE SEEGER

There's no middle ground. It's a difference between a record that tells you to fight, to move forward, to be proud, to keep on pushing and one that tells you to shake your booty. - STOKELY CARMICHAEL

To say that songs of social discontent and social content are part of the Sixties is to say that social justice is part of the Sixties and not a part of the Seventies. -GIL SCOTT-HERRON

XS Propaganda or proper goose; the truth is what matters. -AUNT MOLLY JACKSON

Reach out and grab a song, it'll lift you up. Si mask before you qualify for it. — PETER LA FARGE

L Reach out and grab a song, it'll lift you up. Stop wearing your own death

-••Civilization is spread more by singing than anything else because whole big V) bunches can sing a particular song where not every man can join in on the same conversation. A song ain't nothing but a conversation fixed up to where you can talk it over and over without getting tired of it. -WOODY GUTHRIE

k. One good song with a message can bring a point more deeply to more people than Ka thousand rallies. ... To hear a thousand people singing "We Shall Overcome" without the benefit of Hollywood's bouncing ball is to hear a power and beauty in music that has no limits in its effect. - PHIL OCHS

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Within an imprisoned society, a free literature can only exist as denunciation and hope. ... By saying "I am like this" ami offering himself, the writer can help many to become conscious of what they are. As a means of revealing collective identity, art should be considered a primary necessity and not a luxury. - EDUARDO GALEANO

Emptiness of the stomach, though fatal if endured up to a point, is not the most acute hunger suffered by human beings. That other hunger, the one reaching out for human togetherness, is satisfied when folks meet in a common cause. And they sing. - SIS CUNNINGHAM