A VISIT WITH HARRY STAMPER
ILWU Labor Activist, Songwriter, Musician
by Nathan Moore
Last month, my wife and I traveled to the tiny town of Charleston, Oregon to meet Harry Stamper—retired longshoreman, labor activist, and legendary songwriter. For most of his working life, Stamper was an active member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). He worked on the docks in Coos Bay, Oregon, a town once known for its shipping industry and its timber-based economy. While Coos Bay and its surrounding communities have faced hard times in the last few decades due to mill closures and job losses, Harry Stamper still sings about the power of working people to join together and change their communities for the better.
Some of Stamper's songs have become classics among labor activists, folksingers, and workers. We Just Come to Work Here, a clever ode to occupational safety laws, is featured on Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways alongside songs by Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, and Hazel Dickens. The song has also been covered by bands in the Pacific Northwest as well as by performers in Canada. His song Harry Bridges was a favorite of the influential ILWU leader to whom it pays homage, and his anti-war song Anymore has been performed by many Pacific Northwest artists including the prominent acoustic-activist outfit, Citizens Band from Olympia, Washington.
We Just Come To Work Here
(We Don't Come To Die)
“I've got three songs going right now at the same time,” Stamper told me while showing me around his music room where he records his albums on a four-track machine. Many of his new songs focus on the environmental issues that his community faces. For the past few years, Coos Bay has been the proposed site of a liquid natural gas terminal and an associated pipeline to move the gas inland. Not only have Harry and his wife Holly become active in the movement to oppose this potentially devastating development, but Harry has written some great tunes about the issue. For a great example, check out Jordan Cove Rock, a satirical exploration of the possible consequences of putting a natural gas terminal in a subduction zone, featured on a recent video/blog.
A short film by Nathan Moore about songwriter Harry Stamper.
Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Harry Stamper is his willingness to share his songs with listeners, activists, song-circles, and anyone else who is interested. To learn more about Harry Stamper's music, or to just drop him a line to say hello, email him. Like the working class people he writes and sings about, Stamper is a down-to-earth guy—the kind of guy you'd want watching your back on the job and on the picket line.
Nathan Moore is a freelance writer and musician who lives in Eugene, Oregon. He plays guitar, mountain dulcimer, and sings in the Low Tide Drifters.
See also: “Harry Stamper” - an article by John Sparrow in Victory Review.
Pacific Nothwest Folklore Society