THE LADIES' AUXILIARY (WOODY GUTHRIE/tune: "The Butcher's Boy") (1942)

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You know the old "Ballad of the Butcher Boy"?

He [WOODY GUTHRIE] used that tune for five or ten songs. One of his best children's songs is "Cleano."

He put another famous verse to this tune in 1942, when the CIO Ladies Auxiliaries asked him to write a theme song for them. "What's wrong with 'Union Maid'?" he asked. "We wrote that for you." They said it was a good song, but it wasn't dignified enough, and besides, it didn't have the words "Ladies Auxiliary" in the chorus. So Woody, off the top of his head sang: "Oh, the Ladies Auxiliary...."

Pete Seeger, The Incompleat Folksinger, New York, NY, 1972, pp. 50-51

Lyrics as reprinted ibid., pp. 51-52
© 1961, 1963, Ludlow Music, Inc., New York, NY

Oh, the Ladies' Auxiliary is a good auxiliary.
It's the best auxiliary that you ever did see.
If you need an auxiliary, see the Ladies' Auxiliary.
It's the Ladies' Auxiliary.

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