WOMEN WORKING TOGETHER
suffrage and onwards

Appendix 2 - Songs from the Women's Movement

The Revolting Sisters - Songs of the '70's
A Collection of songs by the 10/40 women for IWD 1991 (State Library of Victoria)

On Appendix 2: ... Mothers, Daughters, Wives - Judy Small ... I Am Woman - Helen Reddy ... Don't be too Polite Girls - Glen Tomasetti ... Sisters Can You Hear Me - Veronica Schwarz (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne) ... Time to Take a Stand ( to the tune of 'Clementine') from Canberra Women's Liberation ... Who? Me? ... Oh! Who Am I? - Beryl Carter ... Woman is Moving - Glen Tomasetti ... Sisters, Rise Up Angry - Meredith Tax, USA ... United We Stand t une of Cabaret  ... Take the Toys from the Boys - Songs 4 Womyn from the Wimmin for Survival Newsletter ... The Shelter Song ... Spirit of Protest (from the Spirit of Progress train) ... Advance Australia Where? ... Uranium for Us to Mine ... The Wind, the Tide and the Sun ... The Right is Out to Crush Your Freedom ... Women's Prison - Glen Tomasetti ... Intoxicated - Toxic Shock

Mothers, Daughters, Wives - Judy Small

A song by Judy Small ©1983 Crafty Maid Music ©1990 Larrikin Music Publishing Pty Ltd

Chorus:
The first time it was fathers the last time it was sons
And in between your husbands marched away with drums and guns
And you never thought to question you just went on with your lives
'Cause all they'd taught you who to be was mothers, daughters, wives

You can only just remember the tears your mothers shed
As they sat and read the papers through the lists and lists of dead
And the gold frames held the photographs that mothers kissed each night
And the doorframes held the shocked and silent strangers from the fight

And it was twenty-one years later with children of your own
The trumpet sounded once again and the soldier boys were gone
And you drove their trucks and made their guns and tended to their wounds
And at night you kissed their photographs and prayed for safe returns

And after it was over you had to learn again
To be just wives and mothers when you'd done the work of men
So you worked to help the needy and you never trod on toes
And the photos on the pianos struck a happy family pose

Then your daughters grew to women and your little boys to men
And you prayed that you were dreaming when the call-up came again
But you proudly smiled and held your tears as they bravely waved goodbye
But the photos on the mantelpieces always made you cry

And now your growing older and in time the photos fade
And in widowhood you sit back and reflect on the parade
Of the passing of your memories as your daughters change their lives
Seeing more to our existence than just mothers, daughters, wives

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I Am Woman - Helen Reddy

I am woman hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore
And I know how much to go back and pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before And I've been down there on the floor
No-one's ever gonna keep me there again.

Chorus:
Yes, I am wise, but its wisdom born of paid
Yes I've paid the price but look how much I've gained
If I have to I can do anything
I am strong (strong). I am invincible. I am woman.

You can bend but never break me 'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back ever stronger Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul.

I am woman watch me grow See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my loving arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo With a long long way to go
Until I make my sister understand.

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Don't be too Polite Girls - Glen Tomasetti

We're really on the way girls, really on the way
Hooray for equal pay girls, hooray for equal pay
They're going to give it to most of us In spite of all their fears
But did they really have to make us wait three years!

Though equal pay in principle is now a woman's right
To turn it into practice we must show a little fight
We fear male disapproval if to argue we decide
The boss fears for his bank account, the husband for his pride

Chorus: Don't be too polite girls, don't be too polite
Show a little fight girls, show a little fight
Don't be fearful of offending in case you get the sack
Just recognise your value and you won't look back.

II work as a waitress. My working mates are men
Do I have to go to court to prove I work as hard as them?
The diner knows, the food, the bill, the tips are just the same;
Well, tell me why my pay is less and why am I to blame?

I sew up shirts and trousers, in the clothing trade
Since men don't do the job I really can't ask to be better paid
The people at the top rarely ask for something more
Unless the people underneath are walking out the door.

Chorus: They say a man needs more to feed his children and his wife
But what are the needs of a woman who leads a double working life?
When the whistle blows for knock-off it's not her time for fun
She goes home to do the job that's never paid and never done.

The employer makes his profit, but the argument is weak,
Compared to how a woman needs eight dollars more a week,
Eight dollars more of butter and fruit and meat
And a bit aside to buy some shoes for all the growing feet.

Chorus: 'We can't afford to pay you', say the masters in their wrath.
But the woman says 'Just cut the coat according to the cloth.'
If the economy won't stand it, here's the answer boys.
Cut out the wild extravagance on the new war toys.

Don't be too afraid girls, don't be too afraid
We're clearly underpaid girls, clearly underpaid
Though equal pay in principle is every woman's right
To turn that into practice we must show a little fight.

And all among the bull girls, all among the bull
Keep your hearts full girls, keep your heart full
What good is a man as a doormat or following at heel?
It's not their balls we're after it's a FAIR SQUARE DEAL.

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Sisters Can You Hear Me - Veronica Schwarz (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne)

Sisters can you hear me / Sisters everywhere
We're fighting for our freedom / We're fighting for our share
Yes, for our equal share of life / We'll show what we can do
We're fighting for our birthright / For we are people too

From the moment we are born / We're told what we should be
Good daughters, wives and mothers ! / Why can't we just be me
Why can't I just be me, I say? / Your answer takes too long
We've waited for ten thousand years / Now we will right the wrong

No tyrant ever has the power / To say "stay in your place"
To limit minds and bodies / Of half the human race
And all the human race, we say, / should live with equal right
To be the best that each can be / Come, join us in our fight

Repeat first verse. Women's Electoral Broadsheet No 26 Vol 3 April 1974

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Time to Take a Stand (to the tune of 'Clementine')
from Canberra Women's Liberation

In Australia, in Australia, where abortion is a crime,
You can die of septicaemia - yes, it happens all the time.

In the city, there's a doctor, and he's making lots of dough,
And there's women, and there's crying, cause they can't afford to go.

There are others, out there frantic, while the hypocrites deride
'Have the baby, it won't hurt you', and she quietly suicides.

In a sweet church, on a green hill, Father Joseph saves a soul;
While he's praying for a foetus, another woman's dead and cold.

Foetus lover, foetus lover, can't you see the life you save
grow into a little baby, bashed and battered while you rave.

I'm a woman, and my body, must remain for me alone;
Throw your bloody laws out the window, my decisions are my own.

Contraception and abortion are just rights that we demand.
Contraception and abortion, women, time to take a stand.

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Who? Me?

Chorus: La la la la
La la la la - la la.

My husband's a policeman, he says he can't afford me,
For the polish on my line the neighbours all applaud me,
When he comes home jumpy from a bash at Russell Street,
I charm him and disarm him by telling him he's sweet.

Chorus: Are you a gangster's moll, doll, Are you a gangster's moll?
La la la la, la la la la - la la.

My husband's a professor, his pay's no cause for tears
He's been giving the same lectures for fifteen years,
His latest book is selling well and adding to his fame
His lab assistants did the work but the cover bears his name.

I work for my family as the wife of a stockbroker
My daughter called him a racketeer I thought that he would choke her
I went to bed with an aching head and she came and said to me
'Profit from investment, Mum, is highway robbery'.

My husband manufactures bags he makes them out of plastic
Production is expanding at a rate that's quite fantastic
I know they cause pollution, but what's a wife to say?
He's taking me on a shopping spree and a Hong Kong holiday.

I give a dinner party when my husband does a deal
In rare Nuigini carvings with primitive appeal
Village life's decaying, you can take the things away
The last big kill on Bouganville was thanks to CRA

I'm a sales girl from Avon I go from door to door
When I get my foot inside a house where I've never been before
I say 'what lovely children'. That's the selling line
'and if you use Tahiti Cream, you'll have a lovely tan like mine'.

My bloke's a Labor member, he earns my admiration
We thought he ought, with my support, help to guide the nation
When we go on picnics with his chauffeured limousine
It mightn't be quite working class but I feel just like the queen.

I married a young lawyer, a man on power bent
He thought he ought, with my support, to be the President
The bombs rained down on field and town, many people died
I was always there with well dressed hair, smiling by his side.

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Oh! Who Am I? - Beryl Carter

Oh! Who am I / What's the reason for a given life?
Am I a person, or is this all? / To be born and live and die.

Oh! Who am I / My father's daughter; my mother's child
My children's mother, my husband's wife, / But are they people, is this life?
A child, a daughter, a mother, a wife? / I am woman - But when a person?
IWD circulars 1972-1973

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Woman is Moving - Glen Tomasetti

Woman is moving, woman is moving (repeat).

Won't be quiet for a silver dollar / Won't be quiet for a diamond collar
Don't believe in the sin of Eve
Don't want to be a doll in a painted face / Don't think man is God 'cause he flies in space
How many more babies will we bear into air they cannot breathe
While he makes cars and plastic trees?
Won't leave the world to aging boys / Playing with their dreadful toys
To a bitter end, there's a fitter end and we move.

So much more to do than please / Down from the pedestal, up from the knees
Man taught woman her job is to mother his heirs / Keep him erect, his socks in pairs
While he conducts the world's affairs / To a bitter end, there's a fitter end, woman is moving.

Don't want to ride in a bullock wagon / Don't want to hide in a Chinese dragon
Not going to walk along behind / A loaded gun and an empty head
The phallic thump makes a rubbish dump / To a bitter end, there's a fitter end, woman is moving.

No more hidden tears, no more hidden rage / Woman starts to disengage from all
But a few men, back, come, back, come, back, come, go, come, go come
From a bitter end, there's a fitter end, and we move.
IWD circulars 1972-1973

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Sisters, Rise Up Angry (to the tune of 'What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor') - Meredith Tax, USA

6 am the eggs are fryin'
7 am the children are cryin'
Off to a low wage job that's tryin'
Sisters get together

6 pm and the dinner's fryin'
7 pm and the dishrag's dryin'
Day is done and you feel like cryin'
Sisters get together

Chorus:
Banks of fire, fists are shakin'
Seize the time, it's ours for takin'
Sisters, rise the dawn's a-breakin'
Sisters, rise up angry

Twelve years old and your told to wake up
TV's says put on your make-up
Passive role you've got to take up
Sisters rise together

Victims of an age old system
Dying slowly in submission
Ain't our natural condition
Sisters, rise together

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United We Stand - To the Tune of Cabaret

Leave all your brushes and / leave all your brooms
Come sisters join the fray

Chorus:
United we stand, sisters, hand in hand
We'll have the strength this way

Together we will always be / fighting the male oppressors
Paving the way for our successors
We are undaunted / Our anger is roused
Sisterhood's here to stay.

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Take the Toys from the Boys - Songs 4 Womyn from the Wimmin for Survival Newsletter

Weren't we there when they were born
Weren't we there when families were torn
Weren't we there when they went to war.

Chorus: No more war / Take the toys from the boys (3 times) / No more war.

Weren't we there when our children cried
Weren't we there when the politicians lied
Weren't we there when the soldiers died.

We are here now / The movement has begun
We are here now / When the web has been spun
We are here now / To sing our song.

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The Shelter Song

People sell survival on installments door to door
A ton or so of concrete and a hole dug in your floor
It buggers up your carpets, and you ought to realize
It only means you'll suffocate instead of vaporize.

Chorus:
Dig yourself a cubby-hole you silly little man
You've been taken in before and you'll be taken in again
Why do you bother hiding when you must know in your hearts
You can't survive a nuclear war unless it's stopped before it starts.

You've got your plans in order for a nuclear attack
A stay of execution in your case-hardened shack
With six weeks of 'Spam', beans, and a freezer full of pies
And a pistol 'cause there might be someone else who's scared to die.

When you hear the final warning, take a deep breath
When you see the light again there'll be radiation everywhere
If you don't shit blood and vomit, and your skin don't suppurate
Just give it time, your genes are very likely to mutate.

Well Mr I'm Alright-Jack, you're a bit soft in the head
'Cause if you survive the holocaust you'll wish that you were dead.
Can't you see another way, it's right here before your eyes
We can stop the whole dam thing if we get out and organise.

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Spirit of Protest (from the Spirit of Progress train)

We are living in dangerous times,
Fear and violence all around us,
But our song is a beacon, just watch how it shows,
And we won't let the darkness surround us.

Chorus:
Women get your walking shoes on
Get down to the tracks
'Cause we're fighting for me and you,
When that train whistle blows,
Everybody's gonna know
This is the Spirit of Protest coming through.

So many weapons in so many lands,
So many ways to say goodbye,
So much power in so few hands,
Now its time to take control of our own lives.

City to city, from ocean to sea
We'll face your policemen and your jails,
We're fighting for freedom, we're fighting for peace,
And we've got to get the world back on the rails.
Jan Testro papers University of Melbourne archives

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Advance Australia Where?

Australian folks let us rejoice / for we are young and free
We'll sell uranium overseas / to boost economy.

So other races, as you die / from dread plutonium
Australia's flag will proudly fly / we'll beat you in the end.
In joyful tunes, then let us sing / Advance Australia. Where?

Old 'pig-iron Bob' sold off the scrap / to help them make some bombs,
New good old Mal sells yellow cake / to anyone who comes.

And as they choke in nuclear waste / we'll be laughing hard
We'll charge 'em more to let us store / it all in our backyard.
Oh, nuclear power, our finest hour / Advance Australia. Where?

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Uranium for Us to Mine

I know a place where we can find / uranium for us to mine
Australia is just the place! / Who cares about the human race? OLE!

Chorus:
Dollars, dollars, dollars ... and cents ...

The government co-operates / with those that we have learnt to hate
The corporates control our fate / Unite, we must stand up and fight. OLE!

The people up in Arnham land / are threatened now to lose their land
The miners are right on hand: / Be damned it's not their bloody land! OLE!

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The Wind, the Tide and the Sun

So the boys in the boardroom said "OK / We're going to mine uranium right away",
It's their Major Contribution to the Ultimate pollution / Courtesy of Wall St and CRA.

Chorus:
We'll all use the wind, the tide, the sun / We'll all use the wind, the tide, the sun
We're a wake up to your capers / With your miners and your rapers
So we'll all use the wind, the tide, and sun.

Uranium is a problem we must face / For it threatens to destroy the human race
They said it was the answer / but we know it gives us cancer!
How can we stop this deadly nuclear waste?

Chorus

Well we're going to sell uranium to Japan / Well what about Aboriginal land?
We'll have to help our brothers / help our sisters help each other
For the sake of this uranium must be banned.

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The Right is Out to Crush Your Freedom

The Right is Out to Crush Your Freedom
The Right is Out to Crush Your Freedom
The Right is Out to Crush Your Freedom
We must stop them now.

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Women's Prison - Glen Tomasetti

Every day is just the same
There isn't anyone to blame
No cruelty that I can name
But you wouldn't call it living

My time'll pass so I've been told
I don't feel young, I don't feel old
I'm never hungry, never cold
But you wouldn't call it living.

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Intoxicated - Toxic Shock

It makes you sick, it makes you heave,
It makes you bristle, it's difficult to breathe,
It makes you tired, it makes you ache
That Toxic Shock is so hard to take.

Johnson and Johnson - Toxic Shock.
Licence to Kill - Toxic Shock.
Let's keep quiet - Toxic Shock.
More cash in the till - Toxic Shock.

Lead Pollution - Toxic Shock.
245T - Toxic Shock.
Nuclear Pacific - Toxic Shock.
Coffee cigarettes - Toxic Shock.

We'v had herpes and cystitis,
And gonnorrhea too,
Had lots of trichamonas
As well as NSU,
But there's a new one on the market,
Your chemist stocks it too.

'Staphyllococcus auries' it's free from them to you.
Unemployment - Toxic Shock.
The 40 hour week - Toxic Shock.
The single mother's pension -Toxic Shock.
Malcolm Fraser - that's Toxic Shock.

Oh! The money they spent putting men on the moon,
And all they can offer us is feminine protection
(Care free - care less)
Toxic Shock, Toxic Shock, Toxic Shock, (scat).

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