Merging the singer;s political convictions with the commercial success of the previous year;s judith, political statements like the title song, originally a poem by james oppenheim commonly associated with a 1912 garment workers strike in lawrence, massachusetts, were balanced with such pop compositions as elton john;s ;come down in time;.

Released as the single from the album was ;special delivery; by billy mernit. Luther vandross sang background on this album, one of his earliest commercially recorded vocal performances.