Which Side Are You On?

"Which Side Are You On?" is a song written in 1931 by Florence Reece, the wife of Sam Reece, a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky.

In 1931, the miners and the mine owners of that region were locked in a bitter and violent struggle (called the Harlan County War). In an attempt to intimidate the Reece family, Sheriff J. H. Blair and his men (hired by the mining company) illegally entered their family home in search of Sam Reece. Sam had been warned in advance and escaped, but Florence and their children were terrorized in his place. That night, after the men had gone, Florence wrote the lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?" on a calendar that hung in the kitchen of her home. She took the melody from a traditional Baptist hymn, "Lay the Lily Low", or the traditional ballad "Jack Munro".^[1]

Reece supported a second wave of miner strikes circa 1973, as recounted in the documentary Harlan County USA. She and others performed "Which Side Are You On?" a number of times throughout. Reece recorded the song later in life, and it can be heard on the album Coal Mining Women.

The song is referred to by Bob Dylan in the song "Desolation Row". It was also the inspiration for the title of Alessandro Portelli's 2011 book on Harlan County's coal mining community.^[2]

Versions by other artists

• The Almanac Singers - Talking Union, in 1941.
• Pete Seeger - "Greatest Hits", in 1967.
• Spirituál kvintet - Za svou pravdou stát (Stand Behind Your Truth), translation to Czech language, in "Dostavník 18", 1983
• Billy Bragg - Between the Wars, in 1985.^[3]
• Dick Gaughan - True and Bold, in 1985.
• Deacon Blue - Riches & More, in 1997.
• Ella Jenkins - Ella Jenkins and a Union of Friends Pulling Together, in 1999.
• Blue Highway - Still Climbing Mountains"", in 2001.
• Dropkick Murphys - Sing Loud, Sing Proud!, in 2001, and, subsequently Live on St. Patrick's Day from Boston, MA, in 2002.
• Anne Feeney - Union Maid, in 2003.
• Natalie Merchant - The House Carpenter's Daughter, in 2003.
• Silas House - Songs for the Mountaintop, in 2006, and Public Outcry, in 2008.
• The Nightwatchman - "Union Town", in 2011.
• Ani DiFranco - ¿Which Side Are You On?, in 2012.
• Panopticon - "Kentucky", in 2012.

Other versions

• Rebel Diaz made a remix of the song
• Billy Bragg - Back to Basics, in 1987, albeit with different lyrics altogether. This referred to the British miners' strike of 1984-5.
• Frederic Rzewski
• Christian Wolff (composer) in "String Quartet Exercises Out of Songs #3 (1974)
• B. Dolan - sampled the Almanac Singers in his 2012 version on the album House of Bees Vol. 2
• Hugh Blumenfeld has been performing a medley of "Which Side Are You On?", updated with modernized lyrics, and This Land is Your Land. ^[4]
• In response to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown protesters briefly interrupted a performance of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with the Requiem for Mike Brown, which began as "Which Side Are You On?"^[5]
• Talib Kweli in "Which Side Are You On" (feat. Tef Poe & Kendra Ross), sampled with the "Requiem for Mike Brown".
• The Dropkick Murphys
• Arlo Guthrie recorded "Which Side Are You On" on Outlasting the Blues in 1979. The chorus and melody were similar, but the verses had more of a Biblical / Gospel meaning.

Appearances

In other media

• Director Ken Loach used the title for his 1984 documentary on the music and poetry written about the miners' strike in Britain of that year.
• Which Side is a political podcast which took its name from the title of this song.^[6]
• Alessandro Portelli's book They Say in Harlan County: An Oral History (Oxford University Press, 2010) takes its title from a line of the song. Another book by John W. Hevener, Which Side Are You On? The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931–39 (University of Illinois Press, 2002) is also titled after the song.
• Get Up, Stand Up: The Story of Pop and Protest part 1, 2003 documentary.
• The song plays during the end credits of the 2016 drama In Dubious Battle.

References