I thought this song (set to the tune of Hey Look Me Over) came from Florida after the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1982, but in her book, Groundswell, Grassroots Feminist Activism in Postwar America, Stephanie Gilmore attributes the words to an activist in San Francisco. Whoever wrote them, I’m so glad she did, because it’s time to dust them off and sing them loudly again!
Every time I sing this song I get requests for the words – so here they are, along with a recording by yours truly:
You screwed us over, you voted nay
We’re gonna get you come election day
So don’t count your votes, boys, don’t feel secure
We’re gonna get you in the end of that you can be sure
We’ll be back by the millions, you know this is true
Hang on to your ass, boys, we’re coming after you
So here’s the lesson we learned that year, on this you can rely
When we’re screwed we multiply!
Audrey Muck
Patricia Winton says
This does go to the 1982 defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (in a number of different states including Virginia, where I was state coordinator). I don’t know when it was written, but I think Judy Goldsmith,l national NOW president, was responsible (or at least was the catalyst).