This version of the labor standard, “Which Side Are You On?” reworked by Ani DiFranco, seemed like just the right song for today’s occasion—big in some parts of the world, though not necessarily in the USA. And yet, US Women have long been at the forefront of workers organizing, voting and other equal rights, as well as the fights to end war, poverty, and racism across the planet. DiFranco’s version of the song takes in all of our contemporary concerns and desires for change—not only for the benefit of women, but for all the people of the world.
The origin of “Which Side Are You On?” dates back to the 1930s, when the United Mine Workers of America began to organize in the mines around Eastern Kentucky in an effort to end practices like payment in scrip and pay docking toward rent in substandard housing. It was a miner’s wife, Florence Reece, who first worked up the workers’ rights classic “Which Side Are You On?” based on the hymn, “Lay the Lily Low,” to fit her experience during the miner’s strike in the ‘30s.
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You’ll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair
Blair was the sheriff that rousted Reece’s family during the strike among Harlan County mine workers, just one of the struggles which contributed toward the region earning its nickname “Bloody Harlan County.” In 1969, Loretta Lynn earned a number one country hit when she sang she was proud to be a “Coal Miner’s Daughter”; the autobiographical sketch set her up for a long career during which she’d be aligned with personal stories from her hard scrabble but loving home in Kentucky coal country. Already an advocate of women’s rights in song, Lynn knew full well the contributions women had made to the mining towns of her region. In the ‘70s, workers struck again and Reece reprised the song for striking miners (preserved in this clip from Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award-winning documentary, Harlan County U.S.A.)
Filed under: Coal Mining Songs, "Which Side Are You On", Ani DiFranco, Barbara Kopple, Florence Reece, Harlan County USA
Denise Sullivan 