Union Songs
The Prints of the Unknown Wobbly
A song by Mimi Yahn©Mimi Yahn 1990, 1991
Oh, I'll tell you a story of our government,
A story of red tape and bureaucracy,
A story that'll make your hair stand up;
It's the story of the Unknown Wobbly.Chorus
Oh, look alive, boys, you FBI boys.
If you're quick enough you just might find
Those fingerprints, boys, those fingerprints;
Yes, the prints of the Unknown Wobbly!Well, they murdered Joe Hill in 1915;
They framed him on charges of homicide.
But the greatest crime of all to them
Was the songs that he wrote and sang.Joe Hill said don't mourn, organize;
And scatter my ashes to the merry winds.
So they sent them in packets all over the land
To good Wobbly folks everywhere.Chorus
Well, two years went by and one packet remained
At the Wobbly headquarters in Chicago,
Till one day the FBI ordered a raid,
So they threw a stamp on it and mailed it.The Espionage Act had just been passed
And the Postmaster knew what to look for;
When he saw that subversive packet come through
He sent it to you know who.Chorus
Those dangerous ashes they caused quite a stir,
They poked 'em and pushed 'em and prodded 'em,
And they dusted that packet for fingerprints
But they couldn't tell which were the Reds'!Chorus
The FBI boys, they worked on that packet
Till World War II came and stalled them,
So, in '44 those ashes were transferred
To the folks at the National Archives.Well, it wasn't until '88 that the Archives
Decided to do some spring cleaning;
So, they let the Wobblies reclaim what was theirs
And at long last Joe's ashes are back!Oh, the tale of those ashes spanned seventy years,
But that packet remains a great mystery
And that's why the Feds kept the envelope:
To identify those damned fingerprints!Chorus
Oh, look alive, boys, you FBI boys.
If you're quick enough you just might find
Those fingerprints, boys, those fingerprints,
Yes, the prints of the long-gone Wobbly!
Notes
Many thanks to Mimi Yahn for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.
Find more of Mimi's work in this collection
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory