Florence Reese

Poet and songwriter Florence Reese was born on April 12, 1900 in Union County, Tennessee. Not much of a singer herself, she nevertheless wrote one of the most influential American labor songs, scribbling the words “Which Side Are You On?” immediately after having her house ransacked by anti-union thugs in Harlan County (“Bloody Harlan”), Kentucky in 1931. She combined the words with the old Celtic tune “Jack Munro” and the rest is history. “Which Side Are You On?” pretty quickly made the jump from union song to civil rights anthem. Everyone knows the Pete Seeger version, but Wikipedia claims the song has also been covered by, among others, Natalie Merchant, the Dropkick Murphys, and my personal favorite, Billy Bragg. (Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALCm5....) Sing it yourself—then go find a picket line and put yourself on it! And by the way, if you want to see Florence Reese perform her creation, check out Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award-winning documentary “Harlan County USA.” (It’s not available on Amazon or Netflix, but you can find it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCOd7... she appears and sings, at the age of 80, at around 49:45 in the film). Even aside from its birth in blood, the song’s evolution is a fascinating story. The tune is centuries old, and the words are ninety, but they continue to inspire us today. Happy Birthday, Florence!