The Economic Human Rights Choir

The Economic Human Rights Choir became one of the Campaign's signiature elements over the course of the new freedom bus tour. The songs of the choir express some of the ideas and passion behind our struggle. The choir continues to evolve, with new songs and new voices.

The choir sings both traditional songs and new ones that reflect the uniqueness of this growning movement of the 90's. Here are some of their original songs:

 

RIGHT NOW

Listen to the choir [rightnow.wav (273K)]

This song, written just before the new freedom bus left Philadelphia, expresses some of the mission of the freedom bus:

What do we all need? / All of our rights now. / Keeping us all where? / Off of the street. / What do we all need? / All of our rights now. / We stand united / We'll not be moved.

Right now / We won't back down, no. / Right now / We'll not be moved / Right now / We've staked our claim, now. / Right now / We've mapped out our route.

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THE RICH MAN'S HOUSE

Listen to the choir [richman.wav (588K)]

This song was inspired by "The Enemy's Camp," a gospel song we sang together in church in Durham:

"Well I went down to the rich man's (president's/governors/etc.) house and I took back what he stole from me / Took back my dignity / Took back my humanity / I went down to the rich man's house and I took back what he stole from me / Took back my dignity / Took back my humanity / And now he's under my feet / Under my feet / Under my feet / Under my feet / Ain't no system gonna walk all over me.

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UP & OUT of POVERTY NOW

Listen to the choir [upnout.wav (214K)]

This song came out of the struggles of the Union of the Homeless in the late 80's and early 90's:

So long, they've kept their feet on our necks / So long, they've been walking on our backs / We must overcome, and stand tall as one

(CHORUS) We're going to move up and out of poverty now / That is what we're fighting for / We're going to move up and out of poverty now / That is what we're living for.

So long they've kept us far apart / For too long, they've told us its all our fault / We must overcome and stand tall as one...

(CHORUS)

So strong, we have begun to unite / So strong, we've built our army to fight / With help from above, God's giving us love...