`New City Songster''s Volume 20 Editorial Revisited

In April 1985, volume 20 of New City Songster, a UK protest folk songbook, contained the lyrics to Colin Bargery and Graham Goffee's "Little Boxes," Sue Edmonds" "To Our Town," John Quiggin's "Bobby, I Hardly Knew You," Peggy Seeger's "If You Want The Bomb" and "Ode To A Scab," Andy Victor's "Tales of '81," Sandy Kreitzer's "The Storm," Ewan MacColl''s "Daddy What Did You Do In The Strike?","The Media," "Only Doing Their Job"  and "Miner's Wife," Clem Parkinson's "Temperance Shearers," Mike Waterson and Martin Carthy's "A Stitch In Time," Larry Penn's "Nobody Cares About That," Maria Tolly's "Wishes," Jack Purdon's "Blackleg Mining Man," Kerith Power's "Upwardly Socially Mobile," Ed Pickford's "Hamster Sid," Paul O'Brien's "The Divil's Advice," Craig Johnson, "Down Along The Soo Line," Jan Bessent and Bill Murphy's "My Kitchen and My Loo," Irene Scott's "Screen Printer," Stan Patman's "Anti-Nuclear Angels," Pete Seeger's "My Get Up And Go," Keith Power's "Liberation Road," and Dick Gaughan's "Which Side Are You On, 1984?".  And volume 20 of New City Songster also included an editorial which stated the following:

"It's so easy to give up these days, to get disillusioned, disenchanted, despairing. It is easy to blame the dream and say it is unachievable when it is really the dreamer at fault.

"We have heard it said by many that protest singers, and writers of topical songs, are just `singing to the converted.' Even if this were so, what's wrong with that?  Do not the converted need encouragement and sustenance as we batter our minds and bodies over and over again against the walls of the system? Whoever brings this accusation against those who gather weekly in churches to sing of their hopes and beliefs to one another (and, incidentally, to their god)? We strengthen each other by singing together, and express our single purpose in chorus and verse. The converted DO have the solace of group activity: demonstrations, meetings, jail.

"We also find ourselves alone and still needing reminders of that group. When you're on your way home, going shopping, taking a bath, putting the kids to bed, cooking, washing, standing by your machine, pen-pushing, whatever: it's good to remember that song, that chorus, to have music that reminds you of the ultimate goal and the road that leads to it.

"The converted need to remember constantly that the powers of creation are on OUR side, because it's those powers that are going to bring about the big change that is coming. If we can create songs we can create a good and fair society. If we can beat the sense of isolation we can beat Thatcher. Those who can sing together can fight together."