We Shall Overcome

Album: Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits (1948)
  • We shall overcome
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome, some day

    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    We shall overcome, some day

    We'll walk hand in hand
    We'll walk hand in hand
    We'll walk hand in hand
    We'll walk hand in hand, some day

    Deep in my heart
    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    I do believe
    We shall overcome, some day
    We shall overcome, some day

    We shall live in peace
    We shall live in peace
    We shall live in peace, some day
    We shall live in peace, some day

    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    We shall overcome, some day

    The most important verse if the one they wrote down in Montgomery Alabama
    They said 'We are not afraid'
    And the young people taught everybody else a lesson
    All the older people that had learned how to compromise
    And learned how to take it easy, and be polite, and get along
    And leave things as they were
    The young people taught us all a lesson

    We are not afraid
    We are not afraid
    We are not afraid, today

    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    We shall overcome, some day
    We shall overcome, some day

    The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around, some day

    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    We shall overcome, some day Lyrics from a song in Public Domain

Comments: 2

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn October 12th 1963, Joan Baez appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA...
    A little under a month later on November 3rd, 1963 her version of "We Shall Overcome" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart for a one week stay, at position #90...
    Between 1963 and 1975 she had eight Top 100 records; her biggest hit was "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", it reached #3* {for one week} on September 26th, 1971...
    * The week it was at #3 on the Top 100; the #2 record was "Go Away Little Girl" by Donny Osmond and in the top spot was "Maggie May/Reason to Believe" by Rod Stewart.
  • Isaias from CincinnatiPete Seeger did a lot of wonderful things during his lifetime, however we now live in the age of information. Empirical research has uncovered and proven the following facts:

    Sometime between 1932 and 1942, an African American woman named, Louise Shropshire composed and published a sacred hymn entitled, "If My Jesus Wills". Her lyrics:

    "I'll Overcome, I'll Overcome, I'll Overcome Someday
    If My Jesus Wills, I Do Believe, I'll Overcome Someday".

    Sound familiar?

    "If My Jesus Wills" was performed all over the country during the 1950's and 60's including the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. It was copyrighted in 1954--six years before "We Shall Overcome". We Shall Overcome was copyrighted as a derivative work with no original author listed.

    As a copyright claimant, Pete Seeger's "story" of the song's origin must be considered objectively.

    in 2012, after studding Louise Shropshire's hymn in detail, Pete Seeger admitted (on film) that it's very probable that Louise Shropshire's hymn was the song from which We Shall Overcome was derived. What more is there to speculate on?

    More facts:

    Filmed interviews and photographic evidence confirm that since 1951 and until his assassination in 1968, Louise Shropshire was a close friend and mentor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was very familiar with Mrs. Shropshire's, "If My Jesus Wills" long before Pete Seeger sang We Shall Overcome for him.

    Could her song and her affiliation with Dr. King have all been a mere coincidence? Of course not?

    Its 2015. We need to wake up and share all the facts. Let the world decide what to believe.
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