Then we’ll sing one song of the workers’ commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
-Joe Hill
Fellow Workers, sit back and relax. It’s time to honor the memory of Joe Hill by enjoying the songs that he left to us. For the second day, WE NEVER FORGET, The Labor Martyrs Project, features FW Hill’s musical and lyrical legacy. We are presenting his songs in the order in which they were first published in the Little Red Songbooks of the Industrial Workers of the World. Today we offer Part 3 of this series.
This edition was published by the Locals of the Seattle IWW sometime after August of 1913 and before June of 1914 and featured four new songs by Joe Hill, including:
“Nearer My Job to Thee” on page 1.
Performed by Lucas Stark
Nearer my job to thee,
Nearer with glee,
Three plunks for the office fee,
But my fare is free.
My train is running fast,
I’ve got a job at last,
Nearer my job to thee
Nearer to thee.
Arrived where my job should be,
Nothing in sight I see,
Nothing but sand. by gee,
Job went up a tree.
No place to eat or sleep,
Snakes in the sage brush creep.
Nero a saint would be,
Shark, compared to thee.
Nearer to town! each day
(Hiked all the way),
Nearer that agency,
Where I paid my fee,
And when that shark I see
You’ll bet your boots that he
Nearer his god shall be.
Leave that to me.
For Lyrics and links to sheet music and karaoke music
http://politicalfolkmusic.org/posts/nearer_my_job_to_thee/
Down in the Old Dark Mill
Tune: Down by the old Mill Stream – Harry MacDonough & Chorus
How well I do remember
That mill along the way,
Where she and I were working
For fifty cents a day.
She was my little sweetheart;
I met her in the mill —
It’s a long time since I saw her.
But I love her still.
CHORUS:
Down in the Old Black Mill,
That’s where first we met.
Oh! that loving thrill
I shall ne’er forget;
And those dreamy eyes,
Blue like summer skies.
She was fifteen —
My pretty queen —
In the Old Black Mill.
We had agreed to marry
When she’d be sweet sixteen.
But then — one day I crushed it —
My arm in the machine.
I lost my job forever —
I am a tramp disgraced.
My sweetheart still is slaving
In the same old place.
For Lyrics and links to sheet music and karaoke music:
http://politicalfolkmusic.org/posts/down_in_the_old_dark_mill/
The Old Toiler’s Message on pages 28-29.
Performed by Lucas Stark
“Darling I am growing old”
So the toiler told his wife
“Father Time the days have tolled
Of my usefulness in life.
Just tonight my master told me
He can’t use me any more.
Oh, my darling, do not scold me,
When the wolf comes to our door.”
CHORUS:
To the scrap heap we are going
When we’re overworked and old
When our weary heads are showing
Silver threads among the gold.
“Darling, I am growing old ”
He once more his wife did tell
“All my labor pow’r I’ve sold
I have nothing more to sell.
Though I’m dying from starvation
I shall shout with all my might
To the coming generation.
I shall shout with all my might.”
For Lyrics and links to sheet music and karaoke music:
http://politicalfolkmusic.org/posts/the_old_toilers_message/
“The Girl Question” on page 35.
Performed by Lucas Stark
A little girl was working in a big department store,
Her little wage for food was spent; her dress was old and tore.
She asked the foreman for a raise, so humbly and so shy,
And this is what the foreman did reply:
CHORUS:
Why don’t you get a beau?
Some nice old man, you know!
He’ll give you money if you treat him right.
If he has lots of gold,
Don’t mind if he is old.
Go! Get some nice old gentleman tonight.
The little girl then went to see the owner of the store,
She told the story that he’d heard so many times before.
The owner cried: “You are discharged! Oh, my, that big disgrace,
A ragged thing like you around my place.”
The little girl she said: “I know a man that can’t be wrong,
I’ll go and see the preacher in the church where I belong.”
She told him she was down and out and had no place to stay.
And this is what the holy man did say:
Next day while walking round she saw a sign inside a hall,
It read: THE ONE BIG UNION WILL GIVE LIBERTY TO ALL.
She said: I’ll join that union, and I’ll surely do my best,
And now she’s gaily singing with the rest:
FINAL CHORUS:
Oh, Workers do unite!
To crush the tyrant’s might,
The ONE BIG UNION BANNER IS UNFURLED
Come slaves from every land,
Come join this fighting band,
It’s named INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD.
For Lyrics and links to sheet music and karaoke music:
http://politicalfolkmusic.org/posts/the_girl_question/
SOURCES
Joe Hill
-by Gibbs M. Smith
Gibbs Smith, Sep 1, 2009
https://books.google.com/books?id=wFwsHQVuHVUC
The Big Red Songbook
-ed by Archie Green, David Roediger, Franklin Rosemont
Charles H. Kerr, 2007
https://books.google.com/books?id=aQHaAAAAMAAJ
IMAGE
This is a must-have book!
Joe Hill: The IWW & The Making Of
A Revolutionary Working Class Counterculture
by Franklin Rosemont
(search: hoboing rudberg)
PM Press, Dec 15, 2015
https://books.google.com/books?id=WIjiCgAAQBAJ
See also:
Political Folk Music Dot Org
http://politicalfolkmusic.org/index/