The Internationale, with Lyrics and MP3

[WillyBrandt]

Might be of interest--a nice sounding tune if nothing else.

Stand up, all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don't cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing, if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all

Chorus:
So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The Internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race

Let no one build walls to divide us
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us
We'll live together or we'll die alone
In our world poisoned by exploitation
Those who have taken, now they must give
And end the vanity of nations
We've but one Earth on which to live
And so begins the final drama
In the streets and in the fields
We stand unbowed before their armour
We defy their guns and shields
When we fight, provoked by their aggression
Let us be inspired by like and love
For though they offer us concessions
Change will not come from above

http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~makarov/anthems/internationale-en.mp3

[Taverner]

1. Always loved the Internationale

Isn't this what the USSR played when winning a medal in the olympics?

[theshadow]

4. No....

...that was the old Soviet National Anthem.
http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian//lyrics/political/SovNatlAnthem.wav

[theshadow]

2. Here's an interesting link to explain it further.

Snip:
The Internationale is the international song of both Marxist and non-Marxist socialist parties. It was written in French by Eugene Pottier, a woodworker from Lille, after the fall of the Paris Commune of 1871, and set to music by P. Degeyter. The "Internationale" referred to is the International Working Men's Association, the so-called First International (1864­76), part of which had supported the Commune. It hac been used across the world as a song of resistence to oppression. Perhaps its most dramatic use in recent years was its repeated singing by the students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 - although, curiously, the western press did not comment on this.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/INTERNAT.html

I have recordings of the old radio show, "I Was a Communist for the FBI" and in several episodes the commies are singing the Internationale with good Soviet gusto (even though the connection is to Socialism, not Communism).

[Droopy]

3. I like the message

But I don't like the tune. Maybe we could get Rage Against the Machine to do a cover.

[fairfaxvadem]

5. I haven't heard it in a long while, but

does it remind anyone else of "Oh Christmas Tree?"

(it's ok, i'm union!)

Personally, I think the whole genre of protest/solidarity songs, like Seeger, the Weavers, etc., is sorely missing these days.