¿Which Side Are You On?

Album: ¿Which Side Are You On? (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • The title track of singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco's seventeenth album is a revised version of a 1931 Florence Reece song, which was later popularized by Pete Seeger. DiFranco transforms it from a labor protest tune to a leftist anthem over marital drums.

    They stole a few elections
    Still we the people won
    We voted out corruption and
    Big corporations,

    We voted for an end to war
    New direction
    We ain't gonna stop now
    Until our job is done
  • At the age of 92, Seeger pops up on the track providing accompanying vocals and banjo.
  • Joining DiFranco and Seeger on the song are a Hudson Valley-based children's chorus, The Rivertown Kids, and a brass band consisting of students from The Roots of Music called The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders.
  • DiFranco was inspired to record her version of this protest anthem after being invited to perform at Seeger's 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in May 2009. She contributed her own verses to the song and has used it to close her own live shows ever since.

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