The Wobblies were prolific writers, churning out dozens of periodicals and propaganda pamphlets. But it was their songs — songs of hope and unity and humor spun out of anger and frustration at life’s injustices — that resonated with the masses. As Joe Hill explained in a letter from jail:
A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over; and I maintain that if a person can put a few cold, common sense facts into a song, and dress them…up in a cloak of humor to take the dryness off them, he will succeed in reaching a great number of workers who are too unintelligent or too indifferent to read a pamphlet or an editorial in economic science.
What follows, beginning with Hill’s best-known song, “The Preacher and the Slave,” are half a dozen short samples of his music, followed by a recording of his famous Last Will. Those are bookended by Hill’s friend and fellow worker Elizabeth Gurley Flynn reminding a 1962 audience of Hill’s import and Paul Robeson’s mighty recording of “Joe Hill,” familiarly known as “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,” which did so much to burnish Hill’s legend.
Listen to the music
All music previews provided and used with permission by Smithsonian Folkways.
“Narrative” by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn from the recording entitled Don’t Mourn-Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, SF40026, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) (c) 1990. Used by permission.
“The Preacher and the Slave (“Pie in the Sky”)” by Joe Glazer from the recording entitled Songs of Joe Hill, FW02039, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Used by permission.
“Casey Jones (The Union Scab)” by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers from the recording entitled Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways, SF40166, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) (c) 2006. Used by permission.
“Mr. Block” by Mats Paulson from the recording entitled Don’t Mourn-Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, SF40026, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) (c) 1990. Used by permission.
“The Tramp” by Cisco Houston from the recording entitled Don’t Mourn-Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, SF40026, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) (c) 1990. Used by permission.
“There Is Power in a Union” by Joe Glazer from the recording entitled Songs of Joe Hill, FW02039, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Used by permission.
“The Rebel Girl” by Hazel Dickens from the recording entitled Don’t Mourn-Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, SF40026, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) (c) 1990. Used by permission.
“Joe Hill’s Last Will” by Joe Glazer from the recording entitled Songs of Joe Hill, FW02039, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Used by permission.
“Joe Hill” by Paul Robeson from the recording entitled Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways, SF40166, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. (p) (c) 2006. Used by permission.
