Union Maid

Woody's original 3rd verse to the song is:

You gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me
Get you a man who's a union man & join the Ladies' Auxiliary
Married life ain't hard when you got a union card
A union man has a happy life when he's got a union wife

Today many unions (teachers, nurses, food workers, etc.) have women as the large majority of members. The sexism inherent in Woody's original verse rankles badly today.

In place of the above verse, someone wrote a new verse, probably in the 1960's.

You women who want to be free, take a little tip from me
Break outa that mold we've all been sold, you got a fighting hist-to-ree
The fight for women's rights with workers must unite
Like Mother Jones, move those bones to the front of every fight!

We included this verse in Rise Up Singing and credited it (as many other songbooks have) to "Cappie Israel".  It now appears that this was an error. Cappy (note correct spelling) Israel tells me (Peter) that she did not write the verse above. If anyone knows anything about the origins of this verse, please write us at info@riseupandsing.org. Her brother Peter Israel wrote the "Native American verse" to "This Land Is Your Land" and Cappy was wrongly credited by Pete Seeger with having written that verse.

Here is another alternative feminist verse to Woody's Ladies' Auxiliary verse. This one was written by Nancy Katz:

A woman's struggle is hard even with a union card
She's got to stand on her own two feet& not be a servant of the male elite
It's time to take a stand, keep working hand in hand
There's a job that's got to be done & a fight that's got to be won