Once And For All

Once And For All is the eighth song in the film Newsies. The song is sung when Jack, David, Sarah, and Denton work through the night to print copies of a sympathetic newspaper flier and distribute it to other non-union child laborers thoughout New York City, with even a copy getting to Governor Theodore Roosevelt

Lyrics
Denton: This is the story you wanted to write,

Well tonight is the night that you can

Jack: Just get this done and by dawn's early light

You can finish the fight you began

David: This time we're in it to stay

Sarah: Think about seizing the day

Jack: Think of that train as she rolls into old Santa Fe

Tell 'em I'm on my way

Newsies: See old man Pulitzer's snug in his bed

He don't care if we're dead or alive

Three satin pillows are under his head

While we're begging for bread to survive

Joe, if you're still counting sheep

Wake up and read 'em and weep

You got your thugs

With their sticks and their slugs

Yeah but we got a promise to keep

Once and for all

Something tells me the tide will be turnin'

Once and for all

There's a fire inside me

That won't stop burnin'

Now that the choices are clear

Now that tomorrow is here

Watch how the mighty will fall

For once and for all

This is for kids shinin' shoes in the streets

With no shoes on their feet everyday

This is for guys sweatin' blood in the shops

While the bosses and cops look away

This is to even the score

This ain't just newsies no more

This ain't just kids with some pie in the sky

This is do it or die

This is WAR!

Once and for all

We'll be there to defend on another

Once and for all

Every kid is our friend

Every friend a brother

Five thousand fists in the sky (Five thousand fist in the sky)

Five thousand reasons to try (Five thousand reasons to try)

Going over the wall

Better to die than to crawl

Either we stand or we fall

For once,

Once and for all