And the Starvation Army they play, and they laugh and they clap and they pray, til they get all your coin on the drum, and they'll tell you when you're on the bum...
Hello from Toulouse-France! My friends and I did our own Blugrass version of this incredibly inspiring song. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5LJNVbb3ZxU.html
The people singing this on a strike had their signs up with “We want fair wages” 8 hr work and days off slogans written on them while they sang. Imagine that while hearing the song.
It's really funny that he supposedly kill that man but they had no evidence even the president tried to help appeal it and after his execution they lost the case records so really I believe he was innocent
Hil was executed by firing squad in 1915. He became a powerful martyr for the IWW cause by telegramming his comrades with a famous last-minute message: “Don’t waste any time in mourning. Organize.”
Utah Phillips was exterminated in the State of Utah for singing songs like this: Preachers trying to tell you what's wrong and what's right, promising some glorious land in the sky. Give your money to Jesus and you'll eat pie in the sky on that glorious day when U die... (That's a lie...!)
Joe Hill was introduced to me during my union organizing days in Reading, PA, when we got an NLRB election at the local newspaper. I cried and still weep when I hear Joan Baez sing about Joe Hill from her performance at Woodstock. "What they couldn't kill . . went on to organize." I'll never forget it, nor will I forget the 100 anniversary of his death in November, 2015.
It is as true today as it was 100 years ago. Joe Hill & T-Bone Slim (Matti Huhta) were friends of my grandfather. I grew up on Utah Phillips stuff, sang with him a few times, and sure miss his wit and good humor. He is right, folk music belongs to all us folks.
Utah is kind of misstating it here. The Joe Hill song is called "The Preacher and the Slave." The original, the source of the tune, was the hymn "In the Sweet By and By."
Joe Hill modified a tune called "The Preacher and the Slave". He created new words and called it "Pie in the Sky". There is a long tradition in folk music of using an existing tune, making new words for it, and creating a new song that way with a different title.
not quite. actually, the title of this song is "The Preacher and The Slave." it's a broadside of the old hymn "The Sweet Bye-and-Bye" written by Joe Hill.
I was fortunate enough to call Utah a friend ... even road a train with him (alright, it was a subway in New York). He even played my guitar as he needed a guitar to do a set but ended up using another. Hope you're making good use of it now Duncan.
what a wonderful tribute , for a father , a friend , a story teller, a entertainer, and some one that I know will be missed , but his songs and words and message will go on for all time... I will never forget his kindness that he showed to all, ... Thank you for keeping his legacy alive..... Thank you for the good stories that will live on forever, and the good times, the tears , and the memories.. X X X Chris The Redwood Gandy dancer
