Songwriters are inspired in varied ways, but rarely is pure rage their muse. That was the case for Florence Reece after she and her seven children were terrorised by a sheriff and his men in Kentucky in 1931.
Her “crime”? Being married to Sam Reece, a miners’ union organiser during a bitter strike that became known as the Harlan County War.
Little did she know that her fury would create one of the great labour movement anthems, which also became a platform for various campaigns to adapt and use for their causes.
Harlan County’s bloody dispute rumbled on throughout the decade, causing death and injury on both sides. Local Sheriff JH Blair openly took the mine owners’ side, and, assisted by troops and hired thugs, used guns, tear gas and beatings against the strikers, who replied in kind.
Reece learnt that Blair and his men were coming for him one night and fled. The sheriff’s men raided and ransacked the family home, searching in vain for him. When they left, a traumatised Florence grabbed a sheet from a calendar on the wall and enraged words poured on to the paper.
The first lines were generally rousing — “Come all you good workers/ good news to you I’ll tell/ of how the good old union/ has come in here to dwell” — then specific and uncompromising: “They say in Harlan County/ there are no neutrals there/ you’ll either be a union man/ or a thug for JH Blair.” And her chorus posed a stark question: “Which side are you on?/ which side are you on?”
Florence used the tune of an old English ballad, variously called “Lay the Lily Low” or “Jack Monro”, and the song spread throughout the union movement at rallies, eventually catching the attention of Pete Seeger, the folk singer and activist.
Later, together with Woody Guthrie, he formed The Almanac Singers and in 1941 they recorded “Which Side Are You On?”, something Seeger repeated 21 years later with his next band, The Weavers.
The song was also adopted during the early 1960s by the black civil rights movement when The Freedom Singers gave it a hand-clapping, gospel feel and rewrote the lyrics. “Come all you Negro people/ lift up your voices and sing/ will you join the Ku Klux Klan/ or Martin Luther King?” was one verse. Reece’s song, again reworded, has again been used during the Black Lives Matter campaign in recent years.
It returned to its mining roots during the 1984-85 coal miners’ strike in Britain. Scottish folk singer Dick Gaughan and England’s Billy Bragg employed it in support of the miners, and film director Ken Loach named his documentary about the dispute after the song.
Artists who have recorded it since include Deacon Blue, the punk band Dropkick Murphys, Natalie Merchant, and a duetting Elvis Costello and Joan Baez. Ani DiFranco composed leftwing lyrics for her 2012 version that included a 92-year-old Seeger on banjo and backing vocals.
Billy Bragg, speaking from his home in Dorset, recalled how he first heard the song in 1984 and wrote lyrics specific to Britain’s miners to sing at benefit concerts. He also included it on his 1985 EP, Between The Wars.
“It is such a simple song,” he said, likening it to “We Shall Overcome” in being “easy to adapt to whatever your cause is. That’s the reason it has prevailed over the years.”
One recent, inappropriate use would have had Reece turning in her grave. It provided the closing soundtrack, and title, for an episode of television’s Succession, in which a media mogul father faces a boardroom coup staged by his son.
She would have been delighted, however, by Bragg’s most recent performance of her song — on a picket line of mainly immigrant striking hotel workers in Boston during a US tour in October.
“They could connect with the song,” he explained. “Its role in that context is to promote solidarity.”
Tell us about your memories of ‘Which Side Are You On?’ in the comments section below.
‘The Life of a Song Volume 2: The fascinating stories behind 50 more of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings; Vanguard Records; Cooking Vinyl; Sony Music UK; Hellcat/Epitaph; Myth America Records; Nonesuch; Righteous Babe Records
Picture credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images