Mother Jones
Unpublished
She organized the miners, the children of the mills
From the Rocky Mountains to them Appalachian hills
On up to Mesabi, where they mined that iron ore
She fought for a world, where there would be no poor
She lived to be one hundred; she road that union train
Where the porters and the brakeman would turn to her and say
We love you Mother Jones
We love you Mother Jones
In the heart of the people
She would find a home
There’s hard-times coming our way
There’s hard-times coming our way
There’s hard-times coming our way
They’re coming now
But there’s no need to worry, because we’re freedom bound
That’s what she told the people as she went from town to town
Fight for the living; pray for the dead
While the militia backed up by the Feds
Fired down upon the miners; that fell like iron rain
Down upon the children; on the cold ground they lay
From Latimer to Ludlow the same old story told
Of the courage of a woman by the name of Mother Jones
(Spoken)
Mother Jones was born in 1830. Died in 1930. Her people were immigrants. Her father came here first from Ireland and got a job on the railroad. Sent for the family. Mother Jones studied to become a schoolteacher. Got a job in Memphis, Tennessee. Where she met her husband, who was an iron worker. Through their love they had three children. The yellow fever swept through. All of her children and husband died in that plague. Mother Jones stayed to care for the sick until the plague was over. She moved up north to Chicago, where she worked for the Lords and Barons. From their plate glass-window she looked down on the streets below. Saw the unemployed with their children in their arms. She looked up at her bosses, but their eyes were hidden from the needs of the people. Until the Great Chicago Fire swept through, driving thousands of people onto the streets. That’s when Mother Jones listened to the Knights of Labor speak of a day when there would be no more poor; of a day when people got sick there’d be doctors for them; of a day when people needed work there’d be jobs for them; of a day when people needed homes there’d be homes for them. At the age of forty-one Mother Jones hopped aboard their union train and began organizing workers from the east coast to the west coast; from way up north, she traveled way down south into those northern owned mills.
She would travel light with her clothing in her shawl
While she went marching for that Child Labor Law
From Birmingham to Kensington on the Mill Child Crusade
On up to New York City to the bankers she did say
Take a look at these children, who work inside your mills.
Take a look at their fingers caught in your spindling wheels.
Take a look at yourself; tell me how does it feel
To stand before the children of the mills
We love you Mother Jones
We love you Mother Jones
In the heart of the people
She would find a home
(Spoken)
As I take a look around today, I see people coming together in ways they have never come together before. And when I see people organizing to make this world better for the common good; for the generations yet to come; I don’t see hard times coming, I see. . .
Good times are coming our way
Good times are coming our way
Good times are coming our way
They’re coming now
We love you Mother Jones
Words & Music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 2025 | BMI
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