"Sister Suffragette" is a song in the 1964 film Mary Poppins. It was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by Winifred Banks. It is the first song of the film.
Production[]
The melody was taken from a scrapped song called "Practically Perfect". It features pro-suffrage elements, mentioning Emmeline Pankhurst, who founded one of the first suffragette organizations. It serves both as Winifred's introduction as well as her theme throughout the film.
In the film[]
In the film, Winifred sings the song as she comes home from a suffragette meeting. It serves to establish her role as a suffragette, and details the movement. She enlists the cook, Mrs. Brill, and the maid, Ellen, in it, while the nanny, Katie Nanna, continuously attempts to interrupt them to inform them of Jane and Michael's disappearance. She is finally successful at the end, when she is able to both inform Winifred that Jane and Michael are missing, and that she has resigned. The melody later appears momentarily during the "Step in Time" sequence, when Winifred returns home to see the chimney sweeps dancing in the house.
Disney Parks[]
The song can now be heard being sung by the suffragettes in Main Street, U.S.A. at the Magic Kingdom.[1]
Lyrics[]
We're clearly soldiers in petticoats
And dauntless crusaders for women's votes
Though we adore men individually
We agree that as a group they're rather stupid
Cast off the shackles of yesterday
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
Well done, Sister Suffragette!
From Kensington to Billingsgate one hears the restless cries
From every corner of the land...womankind arise!
Political equality
And equal rights with men
Take heart, for Mrs. Pankhurst has been clapped in irons again!
No more the meek and mild subservient we
We're fighting for our rights militantly
Never you fear!
So cast off the shackles of yesterday
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
Well done!
Well done!
Well done, Sister Suffragette!
We're clearly soldiers in petticoats
And dauntless crusaders for women's votes
Though we adore men individually
We agree that, as a group, they're rather stupid
Cast off the shackles of yesterday
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
Well done, Sister Suffragette!
From Kensington to Billingsgate, one hears the restless cries
From every corner of the land...womankind arise!
Political equality
And equal rights with men
Take heart, for Mrs. Pankhurst has been clapped in irons again!
No more the meek and mild subservient we
We're fighting for our rights militantly
Never you fear!
So cast off the shackles of yesterday
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
Well done!
Well done!
Well done, Sister Suff...
