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."
In September 1981, volume 17 of New City Songster, a UK protest folk songbook--which contained the lyrics to Ted Edwards' "The Coal and Albert Berry," Don Minifie's "The Ballad of Pat Brady," Deborah Silverstein's "Draglines," Ewan MacColl's "Nobody Knew She Was There" and "What The Poet Called Her," John Pole's "Under The Leaves of Life,", Clem Parkinson's "Fishes Need--Bicycles," Ewan MacColl's "The Vandals," Yan Sharangparni's "Misfit's Story," Peggy Seeger's "Enough Is Enough," Ewan MacColl's "Kilroy Was Here," Paul Wilson and Marilyn Tucker's "Uni-Multi-Factors International," Jim Moreland and Keith Gregson's "I'm A Pneumo," Clem Parkinson's "Microbe's Picnic," Alan Lavercombe's "Laid Off," Ted Edwards' "Thy Fayther's Comin' Wom," Charlie King's "Taft-Hartley Song" and "The Dancing Boilerman," and Rod Shearman's "Is The Big Fella Gone?"--was published. And volume 17 of New City Songster also included an editorial which stated the following:
"...There has never been a greater need for good songs. We are standing on the brink of the Third and Last World War, at a crossroads that has no left or right turns, only forward and backward.
"The songs that are coming in reflect varying attitudes toward this cliff-edge, but they essentially all say the same thing: the human race is in trouble, there is alienation on all fronts. It is no longer just the boss against the worker, but male vs. female, old vs. young, city vs. country, big business vs. the people, first vs. second vs. third worlds, black vs. brown vs. yellow vs. pink vs. white. And of course, the nuclear threat hanging over the whole thing.
"It is hard to write hopeful songs these days, but we are doing it. That is the job of the artist, not to point the finger and say `Look at all that's wrong with the world' and then cut his throat. He/she must point to the way out. In all the songs in this volume, the huge issues of unemployment, race hatred, class war, ecological devastation, nuclear cataclysm are put into perspective as obstacles that we can overcome. This is done by personalising, by putting into detail the human response.
"It isn't only the comedy reactions of the characters in UNI-MULTI_FACTORS INTERNATIONAL, or PAT BRADY--nor the use of BIG FELLA as an endearment to the whale--nor the detailed descriptions in NOBODY KNEW SHE WAS THERE. It is all these approaches at once, a total of individual human actions which is presented. Faced with nuclear annihilation, you feel mighty small. You may say, `What can one person do?' then, in despair at your seeming impotence, do nothing. But the bucket fills with water drop by drop until one mighty small drop takes the water over the top. No drop is indispensable to the final spillout. All the songs, all the constructive responses to the world situation are now not only important but vital.
"The first drop in the bucket is just as important as the last."
In late 1968, volume 1 of New City Songster, a UK protest folk songbook--which contained the lyrics to Ewan MacColl's "Ballad of the Big Cigars," "Lament for the Death of a Nobody," "Brother Did You Weep?," and "Student Edward" protest folk songs, the lyrics to Peggy Seeger's "Song of Choice" and "I Support The Boycott" protest folk songs, and the lyrics to the Critics Group "Grey October" anti-Vietnam War protest folk song--was published. And volume 1 of New City Songster also included an introduction which stated the following:
"This is volume 1 of a continuing series. It is not a folk magazine as such, with articles, reviews and traditional songs, but is strictly devoted to circulating new songs: songs for tomorrow, today and possibly yesterday, but no further back. While realizing the value of placing new songs in a cultural context, i.e. publishing them side by side with their traditional predecessors, it is undoubtedly a fact that many new songs have immediate topical relevance and are often out of date before they are published: others may deal with burning issues, too burning perhaps for most `folk' magazines to handle. As a result, people do not see them, often till too late--and they do not get sung."
