Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize
-Joe Hill
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Monday December 14, 1914
From Solidarity: Announcement for "Joe Hill Edition" of the I. W. W. Songbook
The December 12th issue of
Solidarity brings the announcement of a special "Joe Hill Edition" of the famous I. W. W. songbook. Each songbook will contain an insert "explaining the outrage [the unjust conviction of FW Hill] and calling for action on the part of every purchaser of a copy of the songs."
This is the eighth edition of the songbook. There are four new songs included in this edition (see below), and, although none of the new songs are by Hill, there is a new song by Ralph Chaplin about the imprisoned rebel and the struggle to save him from death at the receiving end of a Utah firing squad.
The second verse warns us:
They’d fill his warrior heart with lead
And gloat to see him safely dead-
His voice forever hushed and still,
Our singing, fighting brave Joe Hill!
The last verse reminds us:
He made them hate him high and low;
They feared his tuneful message so;
He’d fight for us while he had breath-
We’ll save him from the jaws of death!
This poem by Joe Hill can also be found in the newly released songbook:
If Freedom's road seems rough and hard,
And strewn with rocks and thorns,
Then put your wooden shoes on, pard,
And you won't hurt your corns.
To organize and teach, no doubt,
Is very good -- that's true,
But still we can't succeed without
The Good Old Wooden Shoe.
Four New Songs Found in Eighth Edition of I. W. W. Songbook:
OVERALLS AND SNUFF
(Tune: The Wearing of the Green)]
One day as I was walking along the railroad track,
I met a man in Wheatland with his blankets on his back,
He was an old-time hop picker, I'd seen his face before,
I knew he was a wobbly, by the button that he wore.
I knew he was a wobbly, by the button that he wore.
He took his blankets off his back and sat down on the rail
And told us some sad stories 'bout the workers down in jail.
He said the way they treat them there,
he never saw the like,
For they're putting men in prison just for going out on strike,
Just for going out on strike, just for going out on strike,
They're putting men in prison, just for going out on strike.
They have sentenced Ford and Suhr, and they've got them in the pen,
If they catch a wobbly in their burg, they vag him there and then.
There is one thing I can tell you, and it makes the bosses sore,
As fast as they can pinch us, we can always get some more.
We can always get some more, we can always get some more.
As fast as they can pinch us, we can always get some more.
Oh, Hurst and Durst are mad as hell, they don't know what to do.
And the rest of those hop barons are all feeling mighty blue.
Oh, we've tied up all their hop fields, and the scabs refuse to come,
And we're going to keep on striking till we put them on the bum.
Till we put them on the bum, till we put them on the bum,
We're going to keep on striking till we put them on the bum.
Now, we've got to stick together, boys, and strive with all our might,
We must free Ford and Suhr, boys, we've got to win this fight.
From these scissor bill hop barons we are taking no more bluff,
We'll pick no more damned hops for them, for overalls and snuff,
For our overalls and snuff, for our overalls and snuff,
We'll pick no more damned hops for them, for overalls and snuff.
That Sabo-Tabby Kitten
-Ralph Chaplin
(Dixie Land)
You rotten rats, go hide your face;
I'm right here, so find your places.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
The tiger wild in its jungle sittin'
Never fights like this here kitten.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
Chorus
O, the rats all hate and fear me.
Meow! MEOW!
The softest paw can be a claw;
They seldom venture near me.
Hurrah, they saw your Sabo-tabby kitten!
The boss has cream for his lordly dinner;
Feed him milk and make him thinner.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
If you are down and the boss is gloating,
Trust in me instead of voting.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
On every wheel that turns I'm riding;
No one knows, though, where I'm hiding.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
The fight is tough, and you can't see through it?
Shut your traps, and a cat will do it.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
Lawyers have no bunk to fill me;
Cops and soldiers cannot kill me.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
Step on things that the boneheads bow to;
Come with me, and I'll show you how to.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
This world should have but freemen in it;
Let me show you how to win it.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
Perch will I on the system's coffin,
On the hearse they take it off in.
Hurry now! Wonder how?
MEOW! Sabotage!
PAINT 'ER RED
By Ralph H. Chaplin
(Tune: "Marching Through Georgia")
Come with us, you workingmen,
and join the rebel band;
Come, you discontented ones,
and give a helping hand,
We march against the parasite
to drive him from the land.
With ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL UNION!
CHORUS
Hurrah! hurrah! we're going to paint 'er red!
Hurrah! hurrah! the way is clear ahead--
We're gaining shop democracy and liberty and bread
With ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL UNION!
In factory and field and mine
we gather in our might,
We're on the job and know the way
to win the hardest fight,
For the beacon that shall guide us
out of darkness into light,
Is ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL UNION!
Come on, you fellows, get in line; we'll fill the boss with fears;
Red's the color of our flag, it's stained with blood and tears--
We'll flout it in his ugly mug and ring our loudest cheers
For ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL UNION!
"Slaves" they call us "working plugs," inferior by birth,
But when we hit their pocketbooks we'll spoil their smiles of mirth--
We'll stop their dirty dividends and drive them from the earth
With ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL UNION!
We hate their rotten system more than any mortals do,
Our aim is not to patch it up, but build it all anew,
And what we'll have for government, when finally we're through,
Is ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL UNION!
Joe Hill in Jail
-Ralph Chaplin
(Tune: The Red Flag)
A rebel we have know far long,
Who’s thrilled us often with his song,
Has fallen on an evil day-
They seek to take his life away!
Chorus
No harm to him can we allow;
He needs our help and he needs it now;
He’s in their dungeon, dark and grim-
He fought for us; we will stand by him.
They’d fill his warrior heart with lead
And gloat to see him safely dead-
His voice forever hushed and still,
Our singing, fighting brave Joe Hill!
His spirit gloried in the fight-
In Labor’s sure resistless might;
And One Big Union, staunch and strong,
This was the burden of his song.
His heart was hot with burning hate
Against the bosses, small and great;
He told what haughty Sab-cats do,
And all about the wooden shoe.
The “long-haired preachers” feared his name.
He filled apologists with shame;
While “Mister Block” so bland and meek,
With “Scissor-bill” did take a sneak.
Now, boys, we’ve known this rebel long-
In every land, we’ve sung his song-
Let’s get him free that he may see
The day of our great victory!
He made them hate him high and low;
They feared his tuneful message so;
He’d fight for us while he had breath-
We’ll save him from the jaws of death!
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SOURCES
The Case of Joe Hill
- by Philip Sheldon Foner
International Publishers Co, 1966
https://books.google.com/...
Source for Poem by Joe Hill
http://www.folkarchive.de/...
The Big Red Songbook: 250-Plus IWW Songs
-ed by Archie Green, David Roediger,
Franklin Rosemont, Salvatore Salerno
Charles H Kerr, 2007
https://books.google.com/...
See also:
Note: I searched and searched for a copy of the 1914 edition, but was unable to find one.
The closest I could come was this 1919 edition:
Songs of the workers: on the road, in the jungles, and in the shops
-Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World, 1919
https://books.google.com/...
And, of course, the "Joe Hill Memorial Edition" of March 1916:
http://en.wikisource.org/...
IMAGES
Joe Hill
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Wooden Shoe, Sabot
https://msp3196.wordpress.com/...
IWW Button
http://iww.ca/
Sabo-Tabby
http://www.iww.org/...
Ralph Chaplin
http://spartacus-educational.com/...
Joe Hill
http://www.freedomarchives.org/...
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Wolfe Tones - Wearing OF The Green
Dixie-Tennessee Ernie Ford
Marching Through Georgia-Tennessee Ernie Ford
"Treason fled before us for resistance was in vain while we were marching through Georgia."
The Red Flag - Billy Bragg
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