Traditional Peace Movement Songs

NEVER TURNING BACK (C-/-G/CF//CG C)
Gonna keep on walking forward,
Keep on walking forward,
Keep on walking forward,
Never turning back, never turning back.

More verses (and add your own):
Gonna keep on signing loudly…
Gonna reach across our borders…
Gonna work for change together…
Gonna show our children courage…
Gonna light this night together...
Gonna keep on walking proudly



WE SHALL OVERCOME

We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
O deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome some day!

More verses (and add your own):
We shall live in Peace…
We are not afraid (3x) today!
We shall stand together…
The truth will make us free…
The whole wide world around…
We are not alone…
We’ll walk hand in hand…
We shall all be free…



STUDY WAR NO MORE (E---/B7-E-://:A-/E-/ B7-E-://)
Gonna lay down my sword and shield down by the riverside
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside
Gonna lay down my sword and shield down by the riverside
And study war no more.
I ain’t gonna study war no more, ain’t gonna study war no more, ain’t gonna study war no more (repeat).

More verses (and add your own):
Gonna shake hands around the world…
Gonna lay down those atom bombs…
Gonna lay down those fighter jets…


LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH

(Cam DmG C DmG/C B7 EmB7 G7 Am Em F C/AmD G AmD G)
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be
With one creator, family all are we
Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now
With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.



IMAGINE

Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try
No hell below us, above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
(G-C-G-C/ /C D)

Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do
Nothin’ to kill or die for & no religions too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us & the whole world will live as one
(CHORUS: C D G B7 :/C D G B7 C D G -)

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger nor folk with empty hands
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us & the whole world will live as one
-Lennon



I’VE GOT THAT JOY, JOY, JOY

I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
Down in my heart, down in my heart,
I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
Down in my heart to stay.

I’ve got that Peace that passeth understanding…
I see the world in Peace together…








LAST NIGHT I HAD THE STRANGEST DREAM

Last night I had the strangest dream I’d ever had before
I dreamed the world had all agreed to put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room, filled with women and men
And the paper they were signing said we’d never fight again.

And when the paper was all signed and a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads and grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below were dancing round and round
While swords and guns and uniforms were scattered on the ground.
-Ed McCurdy (C-FC/GemAmDmGC/FCGC)




AIN’T GONNA LET NOBODY (Dm/A Dm//A/Dm)
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a talkin’,
Marchin’ down to freedom land




TURN, TURN, TURN  (D A E A E D E, E7 A  E7 A E7 A  E7 D E7sus E7 A)
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose under heaven.

A time to be born, a time to die, A time to plant, a time to reap,
A time to kill, a time to heal, A time to laugh, a time to weep.  (chorus)

A time to build up, a time to break down, A time to dance, a time to morn,
A time to cast away stones, A time to gather stones together.  (chorus)

A time of love, a time of hate, A time of war, a time of peace,
A time you may embrace, A time to refrain from embracing.  (chorus)

A time to gain, a time to loose, A time to rend, a time to sew,
A time to love, a time to hate, A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late.  (Chorus)



KUM BA YAH  (C F C F G C F C F C G C)
Kum ba yah, my Lord, Kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, Kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, Kum ba yah!
O Lord, Kum ba yah!

Someone’s crying, Lord.....
Someone’s singing, Lord.....
Someone’s praying, Lord...

BLOWING’ IN THE WIND  (E A E A B7 // A B7 E A B7 E)
How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleep in the sand?
Yes, ‘n’ How many times must the cannon balls fly before they’re forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
Yes ‘n’ How many deaths will it take ‘till he knows that too many people have died?  (chorus)

How many years can a mountain exist before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn’t see?  (chorus)



THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND (G C C D D7 G C G D D7 G)
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me, that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me.



GENTLE LOVING PEOPLE  (DA G D A- D A D A G D A- G D)
We are a gentle loving people
and we’re singing, singing for our lives. (repeat)

We are an angry loving people....
We are a peaceful loving people...
We are an anti war people.....




DOXOLOGY FOR PEACE

Praise God all peoples of the Earth,
Praise God for the great gift of birth,
Praise God who rules the nations still,
God bend them to your peaceful will.

Praise God, the creator of all,
Peoples and nations great and small,
Praise love that maketh wars to cease,
God lead us in the paths of peace.

HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING?

My life flows on in endless song above earth’s lamentation.
I hear the real, though far off hymn that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I’m clinging.
It sounds an echo in my soul.  How can I keep from singing?

What through the tempest round me rears, I know the truth, it liveth.
What though the darkness round me close, Songs in the nights it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love is Lord of Heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing.

When tyrants tremble, sick with fear and hear their death knells ringing.
When friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing
In prison cell and dungeon vile our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing?



AMERICA

O beautiful, for spacious skies for amber waves of grain
For purple mountains majesty above the fruited plains
America, America, God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shinning sea.



PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS  (C A- C/ G G7 C)
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love,
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there’s despair in life let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy.

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek  F/ C/ G7/ C G7 C7/ F C
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.  D7 / G / D7/ D7

Make me a channel of your peace,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving to all men that we receive,
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.







FOR THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’  (G E- C  G/ G A- C D G/ E- C G  G A- D
Come gather ‘round people where ever you roam.
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll drenched to the bone,
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone,
For the times they are a-changin’  G C D G  

Come writer and critics who prophecies with your pen
And keep your eyes wide and chance won’t come again.
And don’t speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin
And there’s not tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway don’t block up the hall.
For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it’s regin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mother and fathers, throughout the land
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand.
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.

The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast.
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’