Joel Haglund came from Sweden Which was very far from Eden By the time he left most of his family died His sisters and his mother His father and his brothers So with one remaining sibling at his side He got a notion To sail across the ocean Where he heard the streets were paved with gold Not long after his arrival As he toiled for survival He realized the bill of goods that he’d been sold
He got a whole lot wiser Became an organizer And he organized with artistry and skill He spoke up, raised his fist Got right on the blacklist That’s why he changed his name to Joe Hill He heard that it was best If he headed to the west Where the Industrial Workers of the World Were finding the solutions For making revolution With red songbook and red flag unfurled
A hundred years ago the bard With the union card Proved his music was too powerful, too strong They couldn’t stand the sound They had to take him down Lest he organize the working class in song
Soon as he paid his dues He tried hard to light the fuse Speaking, singing, writing lyrics and cartoons He sent off the whole mess To the Wobbly press And they sang his songs as they fought the goons He joined a singing movement That fought for improvement By abolishing wage-slavery worldwide He sang the Wobbly line Beseeching workers to combine Learn from Mr Block — the bosses lied
A hundred years ago the bard With the union card Proved his music was too powerful, too strong They couldn’t stand the sound They had to take him down Lest he organize the working class in song
His life would be cut short By a kangaroo court Eager to determine one man’s fate Evidence was circumstantial But that’s inconsequential When you’ve become an enemy of the state They put him up against the wall And that was all They gunned him down in 1915 He took all the bullets he could take There by the Salt Lake For being the best bard they’d ever seen
A hundred years ago the bard With the union card Proved his music was too powerful, too strong They couldn’t stand the sound They had to take him down Lest he organize the working class in songTeksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.
