As the 2007 book, The Big Red Songbook, which Archie Green, David Roediger, Franklin Rosemont and Salvatore Salerno edited, noted, the Industrial Workers of the World [IWW] protest folk and labor song "Walking On The Grass," "represents IWW songs with authors unknown," was "probably composed in response to a Missoula, Montana ordinance prohibiting public assembly" in the early 20th-century and "addressed issues raised in free-speech campaigns waged by Wobblies in the Northwest and California." Following are the lyrics to the "Walking On The Grass" song, which can be sung to the traditional tune of "The Wearing Of The Green" Irish rebel protest folk song:
"In this blessed land of freedom where King Mammon wears the crown
There are many ways illegal now to hold the people down
When the dudes of state militia are slow to come in time
The law upholding Pinkertons are gathered from the slime.
There are wisely framed injunctions that you must not leave your job
And a peaceable assemblage is declared to be a mob.
And Congress passed a measure framed by some consummate ass,
So they are clubbing men and women just for walking on the grass.
"In this year of slow starvation, when a fellow looks for work,
The chances are a cop will grab his collar with a jerk;
He will run him in for vagrancy, he is branded as a tramp,
And all the well-to-do will shout: `It serves him right, the scamp!'
So we let the ruling class maintain the dignity of law.
When the court decides against us we are filled with wholesome awe,
But we cannot stand the outrage without a little sauce
When they're clubbing men and women just for walking on the grass.
"The papers said the union men were all but anarchists,
So the job trust promised work for all who wouldn't enlist;
But the next day when the hungry hoard surrounded city hall,
He hedged and said he didn't promise anything at all.
So the powers that be are acting very queer to say the least
They should go and read their Bible and all about Belshazzar's feast,
And when mene tekel at length shall come to pass
They'll stop clubbing men and women just for walking on the grass."
