Union Songs

Every Stitch

A Song by Nathan Moore and Katherine Downing©2011 Nathan Moore and Katherine Downing

- [play]

In New York’s garment district
A century ago
Flames swept through a sweatshop
Where young women came to sew
They tried to flee to safety
But they found the stairwells locked
Some perished from the smoke and fire
Some fell on the hard sidewalk

Present day in Bangladesh
Eleven stories high
Workers stand before the glass
How they wish that they could fly
Exit doors are locked up tight
The air is full of screams
Twenty six will die today
For the sake of cool blue jeans

Chorus:
For every stitch of clothing
Someone sweats away unseen
While the tangled threads of justice
Unravel at the seams
From the slums of New York City
To the streets of Bangladesh—
One hundred years of struggle
And it ain’t over yet

In the ashes of disaster
New York’s unions stood to fight
They won safety on the cutting floor
And basic workers’ rights
But now the union label’s faded
And the war is waged anew
Along a global chain of greed and pain
Hidden from the public view

Chorus

All across America
In every crowded mall
Shoppers shop beneath the smiles
Of models on the walls
But the promise of a logo
Is nothing more than sleight of hand
A corporate mask to hide the lives
That lie behind the brand

There are tears tonight in Dhaka
See the workers in the street
With banners flying high above
Their weary marching feet
And we who sport the fashions-
Can be a voice that calls for change
In blood and fear and poverty
Union rises from the flames.

Chorus:
For every stitch of clothing
Someone sweats away unseen
While the tangled threads of justice
Unravel at the seams
From the slums of New York City
To the streets of Bangladesh—
One hundred years of struggle
And it ain’t over yet

No, one hundred years of struggle
And it ain’t over yet.

Notes

Many thanks to Nathan Moore and Katherine Downing for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection

Nathan writes:
'Here some lyrics to a new Low Tide Drifters song, entitled "Every Stitch." It is dedicated to the memory of those who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire a century ago and to the all the garment workers in Bangladesh who are struggling for their rights.'

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