> Folk Music > Songs > Human Equality

Human Equality

[ Roud - ; words William Lloyd Garrison]

William Lloyd Garrison’s 1871 poem Human Equality is set to the 1750 Jacobite song A Man’s a Man, For A’ That..

Amy Leach sang Human Equality in 2018 on her and Shona Mooney’s EP Banff to Ancona. They noted:

To celebrate International Human Solidarity Day 2017 we decided to record a new version of Human Equality by William Lloyd Garrison (1871).

Amy Leach joined Shona Mooney in Canada, where they began recording Human Equality at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The following month Shona travelled to Ancona in Italy where Clara People and Andrea Goroni added drums, guitar, bass, vocals to the track and the whole recording was finally mixed/mastered in Fenice Studio, Italy.

Lyrics

William Lloyd Garrison’s poem Human Equality

There is no king by right divine
To rule and reign, and a’ that;
No princely rank, nor lordly line –
Equality, for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Dynastic power, and a’ that;
A common birthright crowns us all
With liberty, for a’ that.

Let fools and upstarts boast they find
In ancestry, and a’ that,
A higher place to them assigned –
Mankind are one, for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
A pompous air, and a’ that;
It matter not how born or bred,
We’re of one blood, for a’ that!

Though woman never can be man,
By change of sex, and a’ that,
To equal rights, ’gainst class or clan,
Her claim is just, for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that!
Her Eden slip, and a’ that;
In all that makes a living soul
She matches man, for a’ that!

She asks no favors at his hands,
On bended knee, and a’ that;
She is his peer where’er he stands,
In spite of sex, and a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Fair play for her, and a’ that,
In all the grave conderns of life –
This is her due, for a’ that.

In every land, throught every age,
How hard her lot, and a’ that!
A vassal state her heritage,
Dependent, poor, and a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Most deeply wronged, and a’ that;
Though subjugated from her birth,
She stil aspires, for a’ that!

Oh, woe for man, proud arbiter!
And judgments sore, and a’ that;
For Heaven’s displeasure they incur
Who crush the weak, and a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Injustice vile, and a’ that: –
All noble souls will woman aid
To gain her cause, for a’ that!

Down with all barriers that prevent
Her culture, growth, and a’ that –
Her rightful share in government,
In Church and State, and a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
“Her proper sphere,” and a’ that;
Whaever right a man may claim,
Belongs to her, for a’ that!

Soul is the complement of soul,
And sex of sex, for a’ that;
Each is included in the whole,
The whole in each, for a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Full liberty, and a’ that,
For manhood and for womanhood,
By grace of God, for a’ that!

The hail the day, come when it may,
As come it will, for a’ that,
When woman’s worth, o’er all the earth,
Shall honored be, for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Co-equal, free, and a’ that;
Through her enfranchisement our race
Shall nobly rise, for a’ that!