Rise Up Ye Women

Rise Up Ye Women © Sandy Rapp 2006

It was a time of dark and sad song,
Seven years with Bella been and gone.
Among the leaders from the days of long ago,
The troubled time had taken out its toll.

And there was one, from Illinois. It’s told how
Betty broke a new and grueling ground.
She went marchin' in Manhattan up Fifth Avenue ya know.
And she wrote a book that turned the world around.

Chorus:
Rise up ye women or the vintage it will fail,
Cried old Prophet Isaiah so they say.
And they rose up, the mighty women of a new and movin’ age;
And they grew to be the prophets of their day.

And there was one, from old Montgomery,
She rode a bus to freedom it is told,
She went marchin' by with Martin out of Selma long ago,
And into history our Rosa rode.

And there were two, from Pennsylvania,
Where liberty is rung from every bell.
Molly Yard went marchin' to the rally in the sky
And C. Delores Tucker left as well,

Repeat Chorus

And let us sing, Coretta Scott King
For out from Alabama did she go.
And there was Bella’s scribe Mim Kelber;
There was Wendy Wasserstein,
And we lost ‘em all within a year ya know.

Repeat Chorus