Sing
Who are we?
We call ourselves the Dewey Square Ad Hoc Chorus, but we're really just a bunch of folks out to share songs in support of Occupy Boston, and we'd love to have you join us! We've got a lot of fun songs, including classic and new protest songs, union songs, and general rousing chorus songs, and we're on the lookout for more.
Watch & listen to us sing in this YouTube video from 9-Dec-2011.
Upcoming Sings
Unless otherwise specified, we gather ~11:45am on the Dewey Square Plaza (at the North corner of Summer St. and Atlantic Ave in Boston), kitty-corner from South Station, next to the glass&metal pyramid MBTA entrance, and sing from noon to 1:00pm.
Anabel Graetz often leads informal warm-ups between 11:50 and noon. These are strictly optional, but do take a look at Anabel's Tips for Singing Outdoors!
This Friday (12/16), in lieu of our usual material, we will have caroling led by Anabel Graetz! She'll have a neat mix of songs, including some good Occupy material. We'll sing in Dewey Square Plaza and/or South Station, meeting at 11:45am as usual. See below for details of songs.
Weather cancellations: If the weather looks bad, I'll cancel the sing, posting to the mailing list and here on the wiki. I'll try to make the call by midnight the night before.
Caroling
Thanks to all who came out yesterday to carol on Dewey Square. We had a great session. There will be more singing, not weekly, not outdoors for the winter months. Check regularly for updates.
Caroling update:
Finally, it's here, the "official" caroling songbook for this Friday. Hope this link works! I'll be bringing copies with me as well. It includes familiar, unfamiliar, very singable and easy to join songs. Looking forward to noon tomorrow!
The "official" caroling book will posted soon; hopefully by Wednesday. Before I finish it, I want to get an idea of who knows what songs; I'm planning on including some lesser known, but truly wonderful, carols, including
- Gloucesteshire Wassail (Wassail, Wassail all over the town...)
- Pleased to See the King (Joy, Health, Love and Peace)
- Apple Tree Wassail
- The Holly Bears a Berry
- Star in the East
I can't include them all, so I need some feedback. Let me know which ones you know, can sing and really love. Also, send suggestions of carols not on the list. Yes, i have about 18 in the book so far, but I'd like to know four or five that you feel are essential, (Love "Joy to the World" but hate "Silent Night"?) Let me know.
See you Friday, December 16 at 11:45 at Dewey Square!!!
You can print yourself a copy of the Unofficial Occupy Boston Carol Book.
Occupy New Hampshire has reworked some popular Christmas tunes with occupation-themed lyrics. They have a YouTube video, and you can download their songbook here.
Songs
We provide copies of our evolving songbook, Songs for a Cheerful Occupation, but you can also download a printable version or an editable version. It currently includes the following songs:
- Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around
- America the Beautiful
- America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)
- Banks of Marble (by Les Rice)
- Bring Out the Banners (w: John Warner)
- Dig a Channel (by Susanne Fisk; new verses by Rae Langton & Ruth Perry)
- Farther Along
- Hallelujah, I'm A Bum
- Hold On (Keep your Eyes on the Prize)
- If I Had a Hammer (by Hays & Seeger)
- John Ball (by Sydney Carter)
- Jolly Banker (by Woody Guthrie)
- MTA Charlie (by Steiner & Hawes)
- The Man that Waters the Workers' Beer (by Paddy Ryan)
- No More! (w: Vicki Ryder)
- Occupy Wall Street (by Chris Nauman)
- Roll the Movement On
- They're Taking It Away (by Ian Robb)
- This Little Light of Mine
- This Land is Your Land (by W. Guthrie)
- Wall Street Sit Down (tune: Maurice Sugar; new words: Peggy Seeger)
- When We Go Rolling Home (by John Tams)
- We Shall Not Be Moved
- You Gotta Go Down & Join the Sit-in
And here is an incomplete list of songs we've sung or are considering singing.
Mailing List
We have a mailing list for planning and announcement of sings:
http://groups.google.com/group/adhocchorus
If you want to join it and that didn't work, try this instead:
http://groups.google.com/group/adhocchorus/boxsubscribe
It should give you an error message along with a usable subscription form. (Yes, that's ugly, but we're working on it.)