| Union Boys | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | New York City |
| Genre: | Folk |
| Years Active: | 11 March 1944 |
| Associated Acts: | The Weavers, Almanac Singers |
The Union Boys (also "Josh White and the Union Boys"[1]) was an American folk music group, formed impromptu in 1944, to record several songs on an album called Songs for Victory: Music for Political Action. Its "all-star leftist"[2] members were Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Tom Glazer (and Woody Guthrie by contributing a song).[3] [4] [5]
Songs of Victory fits with the Almanac Singers' album Dear Mr. President.[6]
In 1942, Army intelligence and the FBI determined that the Almanacs and their former anti-draft message were still a seditious threat to recruitment and the morale of the war effort among blacks and youth.[7] and they were hounded by hostile reviews, exposure of their Communist ties and negative coverage in the New York press, like the headline "Commie Singers try to Infiltrate Radio."[8] They disbanded in late 1942 or early 1943.
On March 11, 1944,[9] Alan Lomax assembled the group for an impromptu recording at the Asch Recording Studio in New York City.[1] [2] [5] [10]
The album represents a change from the anti-war, anti-racism, and pro-union philosophies of most of its members but a continuation of their anti-Nazi, anti-Fascist philosophies in the form for support for the US and the Allies (which included the USSR).
The Union Boys turned out to be a one-time, one session "group": Moe Asch gave them the name.[5]
A few months later, White and Glazer recorded another album with a similar title, Songs of Citizen CIO.[3] Songs for Victory also began White's association with recording engineer Moe Asch, who released White's next two albums on his Asch Records label.[2]
Woody Guthrie was not in New York City at the time and did not partake; the Union Boys sang one of his songs.[5]
The Recorded Sound Archives of Florida Atlantic University lists:
The book Josh White: Society Blues by Elijah Wald lists:
The album may have been reproduced at least once as Song for Political Action by the Union Boys.[4]
"Hold On," itself a rewrite of a Gospel song "Gospel Plow,"[2] received a pro-war rewrite for this album, including the refrain:
Hold on – Franklin D. / Hold on – Winston C. / Hold on – Chiang Kai-shek / Hold on – Joseph Stalin / Keep your hands on that gun / And hold on.[2]The song appeared on White's posthumous album Free and Equal Blues (1998).[9] [12]
A celebration of the Allies' united front, the song is an entertaining reminder of what strange bedfellows politics can make, as the singers belt out the names of their heroic leaders: Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek, and Joseph Stalin.[9]Later, Josh White recorded the old folk tune as a new song, "Keep Your Hand on that Vote" that called "united Negroes" to voting booths.[9]
(The folk song saw renewed resurgence in the 1950s and 1960s as "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize."[13])
Big Red Songbook[4] shows the following lineup: