Joe Hill
A song by Alfred Hayes, Music by Earl Robinson©1938 by Bob Miller, Inc.
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you or me
Says I, But Joe, you're ten years dead
I never died, says he
I never died, says he
In Salt Lake, Joe, says I to him
Him standing by my bed
They framed you on a murder charge
Says Joe, But I ain't dead
Says Joe, But I ain't dead
The copper bosses killed you, Joe
They shot you, Joe, says I
Takes more than guns to kill a man
Says Joe, I didn't die
Says Joe, I didn't die
And standing there as big as life
And smiling with his eyes
Joe says, What they forgot to kill
Went on to organize
Went on to organize
Joe Hill ain't dead, he says to me
Joe Hill ain't never died
Where working men are out on strike
Joe Hill is at their side
Joe Hill is at their side
From San Diego up to Maine
In every mine and mill
Where workers strike and organize
Says he, You'll find Joe Hill
Says he, You'll find Joe Hill
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you or me
Says I, But Joe, you're ten years dead
I never died, says he
I never died, says he
Notes
Joe Hill, a great organizer and poet, was executed in 1915 on a murder charge universally considered to be a frame-up.
"The Preacher and the Slave", one of his most famous songs, is also in this collection. Small packets of Hill's ashes were sent to Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) branches around the world. The packet that came to Sydney was confiscated by police who burnt it in Central Police Station!
Joe Hill's Will
Written just before he was executed on by the state
of Utah in the face of world wide protests.
My will is easy to decide
For there is nothing to divide
My kin don't need to fuss and moan
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone"
My body? Ah, If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again
This is my last and final will
Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill
Alfred Hayes
(1911 – 1985)
Alfred Hayes was born in London in 1911. He grew up in New York and attended school in that city. He worked for a time as a newspaperman, magazine writer, and radio hack, all in New York. In 1943 Mr Hayes went into the army, serving in Italy. While in Rome, he met Roberto Rossellini and Luigi Zampa, and worked with Rossellini on the film Paisa.
He returned to the United States in 1945, and after writing All Thy Conquests, which was published in 1945, went to Hollywood for Warner Brothers. Shadow of Heaven was published in 1946. An earlier book, The Big Time, a volume of poems, was published in 1944. Hayes received the Eunice Tietjens poetry award several years ago. Welcome to the Castle, a book of poetry, was published in 1950.
He has also written two Broadway plays: Journeyman, a dramatization of Erskine Caldwell's book, and Tis of Thee, a musical. (from the Blurb on Hayes' 1940s novel The Girl On The Via Flaminia, Penguin 1949)
see also Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hayes_(writer)
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