“Commonwealth of Toil” by Ralph Chaplin is the Peace Song of the Day for Thursday, October 13th. The tune is to the traditional song, “Nellie Bly”. You can find this song on page 181 of the Rise Up Singing songbook, which you can purchase through Peace Couple: here.

The Duke and Duchess are dedicating this song to the folks on the ground at Occupy Wall Street. Tomorrow morning, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are facing eviction from their park. If you can support them with your presence or a phonecall, please take action before tomorrow morning at 6am. You can find more information at www.occupywallst.org

More about this song, and its connection to Occupy Wall Street below

Excerpt from lyrics:

They have laid our lives out for us to the utter end of time
Shall we stagger on beneath their heavy load?
Shall we let them live forever in their gilded halls of crime*
With our children doomed to toil beneath their goad?
*****
But we have a glowing dream of how fair the world will seem
When each man can his life secure and free
When the earth is owned by labor & there’s joy and peace for all
In the Commonwealth of Toil that is to be

*Or, in this case, “their gilded private/public park, which they think should be reserved for the rich people to have quiet strolls in.”