Joe Hill's songs

Listen to Joe Hill's music

The Salt Lake Tribune asked the musicians on this page to learn one of Joe Hill’s songs. We then filmed them performing the songs at sites in the valley where the events surrounding Hill’s trial and eventual execution took place.

Nearer My Job to Thee

For his song "Nearer My Job to Thee," Joe Hill adapted the hymn "Nearer My God To Thee" to take on the dishonest practices of hiring agencies. It wasn't uncommon for agencies to collect fees from workers without connecting them to jobs. The song is performed by The Utah County Swillers in a Salt Lake City alley that two masked men used as an escape route after killing grocer John G. Morrison and his son Arling. Hill was arrested and eventually convicted of killing John Morrison.

My train is running fast, I've got a job at last
↕ Lyrics

Nearer My Job to Thee

Nearer my job to thee
Nearer with glee
Three plunks for the office fee
But my fare is free
My train is running fast
I've got a job at last

Nearer my job to thee
Nearer to thee
Arrived where my job should be
Nothing in sight I see
Nothing but sand, by gee
Job went up a tree
No place to eat or sleep
Snakes in the sagebrush creep
Nero a saint would be
Shark, compared to thee

Nearer to town each day
Hiked all the way
Nearer that agency
Where I paid my fee
And when that shark I see
You'll bet your boots that he
Nearer his god shall be
Leave that to me



There Is Power in a Union

"There Is Power in a Union" is one of Joe Hill's most enduring recruiting songs. After his execution, the song was sung at his funeral in Salt Lake City and again at his funeral in Chicago. The song is performed here by Folk Hogan in Salt Lake City's Sugar House Park, near the site where Utah's state prison once stood and where Hill was executed by a firing squad on Nov. 19, 1915.

If you like sluggers to beat off your head, Then don't organize, all unions despise
If you want nothing before you are dead, Shake hands with your boss and look wise
↕ Lyrics

There Is Power in a Union

Would you have freedom from wage slavery
Then join in the grand Industrial band
Would you from mis'ry and hunger be free
Then come! Do your share, like a man

There is power, there is power
In a band of workingmen
When they stand hand in hand
That's a power, that's a power
That must rule in every land
One Industrial Union Grand

Would you have mansions of gold in the sky
And live in a shack, way in the back?
Would you have wings up in heaven to fly
And starve here with rags on your back?
If you've had enough of "the blood of the lamb,"
Then join in the grand Industrial band
If, for a change, you would have eggs and ham
Then come! Do your share, like a man

There is power, there is power
In a band of workingmen
When they stand hand in hand
That's a power, that's a power
That must rule in every land
One Industrial Union Grand

If you like sluggers to beat off your head
Then don't organize, all unions despise
If you want nothing before you are dead
Shake hands with your boss and look wise

There is power, there is power
In a band of workingmen
When they stand hand in hand
That's a power, that's a power
That must rule in every land
One Industrial Union Grand

Come, all ye workers, from every land,
Come join in the grand Industrial band
Then we our share of this earth shall demand
Come on! Do your share, like a man

There is power, there is power
In a band of workingmen
When they stand hand in hand
That's a power, that's a power
That must rule in every land
One Industrial Union Grand



Rebel Girl

"Rebel Girl" was inspired by Joe Hill's friend, Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn, who was a prominent speaker and leader in the Industrial Workers of the World. Hill wrote the song in 1915 while in prison in Salt Lake City, and hoped it would draw more women to the IWW. The original song is performed here by Alyeah Hansen at a park near downtown Salt Lake City. Today's updated lyrics change the Rebel Girl's role from supporting Rebel Boys to becoming a powerful force herself.

There's the blue blooded queen or the princess, Who have charms made of diamonds and pearls But the only and thoroughbred lady Is the Rebel Girl.
↕ Original lyrics

Rebel Girl: Original lyrics

There are women of many descriptions
In this queer world, as everyone knows
Some are living in beautiful mansions
And are wearing the finest of clothes
There are blue blooded queens and princesses
Who have charms made of diamonds and pearl
But the only and thoroughbred lady
Is the Rebel Girl

That's the Rebel Girl, that's the Rebel Girl
To the working class she's a precious pearl
She brings courage, pride and joy
To the fighting Rebel Boy
We've had girls before, but we need some more
In the Industrial Workers of the World
For it's great to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl

Yes, her hands may be hardened from labor
And her dress may not be very fine
But a heart in her bosom is beating
That is true to her class and her kind
And the grafters in terror are trembling
When her spite and defiance she'll hurl
For the only and thoroughbred lady
Is the Rebel Girl

That's the Rebel Girl, that's the Rebel Girl
To the working class she's a precious pearl
She brings courage, pride and joy
To the fighting Rebel Boy
We've had girls before, but we need some more
In the Industrial Workers of the World
For it's great to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl


↕ Updated lyrics, by Hazel Dickens

Rebel Girl: Updated lyrics

There are women of many descriptions
In this cruel world, as everyone knows.
Some are living in beautiful mansions,
And are wearing the finest of clothes.
There's the blue blooded queen or the princess,
Who have charms made of diamonds and pearls
But the only and thoroughbred lady
Is the Rebel Girl.

CHORUS
She's a Rebel Girl, a Rebel Girl!
She's the working class, the strength of this world.
From Maine to Georgia you'll see
Her fighting for you and for me.
Yes, she's there by your side with her courage and pride.
She's unequaled anywhere.
And, I'm proud to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl.

Though her hands may be hardened from labor
And her dress may not be very fine
But a heart in her bosom is beating
That is true to her class and her kind.
And the bosses know that they can't change her
She'd die to defend the worker's world.
And the only and thoroughbred lady
Is the Rebel Girl.


Telegram to a Rebel Girl

Rebel Girl

In this telegram to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn on the eve of Joe Hill's execution, Hill writes, "I have lived like a rebel and I shall die like a rebel." Gurley-Flynn was the inspiration for Hill's song, "Rebel Girl." Photo courtesy Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives


We Will Sing One Song

"We Will Sing One Song," published in 1913, is an example of Joe Hill's practice of taking well-known songs of his time and giving them new political meanings. Based on the traditional "My Old Kentucky Home," his version - like many of his songs - is critical of those who hold political, economic and religious power. The song is performed by Six Feet In the Pine outside an abandoned house, which stands near the home where Hill was arrested in 1914.

Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might, Then we'll sing one song Of the workers' commonwealth, Full of beauty, full of love and health
↕ Lyrics

We Will Sing One Song

We will sing one song of the meek and humble slave
The horn-handed son of the toil
He's toiling hard from the cradle to the grave
But his master reaps the profits from his toil
Then we'll sing one song of the greedy master class
They're vagrants in broadcloth, indeed
They live by robbing the ever-toiling mass
Human blood they spill to satisfy their greed

Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might
Then we'll sing one song
Of the workers' commonwealth
Full of beauty, full of love and health

We will sing one song of the politician sly
He's talking of changing the laws
Election day all the drinks and smokes he'll buy
While he's living from the sweat of your brow
Then we'll sing one song of the girl below the line
She's scorned and despised everywhere
While in their mansions the "keepers" wine and dine
From the profits that immoral traffic bear

Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might
Then we'll sing one song
Of the workers' commonwealth
Full of beauty, full of love and health

We will sing one song of the preacher, fat and sleek
He tells you of homes in the sky
He says, "Be generous, be lowly, and be meek
If you don't you'll sure get roasted when you die
Then we'll sing one song of the poor and ragged tramp
He carries his home on his back
Too old to work, he's not wanted 'round the camp
So he wanders without aim along the track

Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might
Then we'll sing one song
Of the workers' commonwealth
Full of beauty, full of love and health

We will sing one song of the children in the mills
They're taken from playgrounds and schools
In tender years made to go the pace that kills
In the sweatshops, 'mong the looms and the spools
Then we'll sing one song of the One Big Union Grand
The hope of the toiler and slave
It's coming fast; it is sweeping sea and land
To the terror of the grafter and the knave

Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might
Then we'll sing one song
Of the workers' commonwealth
Full of beauty, full of love and health



The Preacher and the Slave

"The Preacher and the Slave" is arguably Joe Hill's best-known song. It parodies the popular Salvation Army hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye." The song is performed by Andrew Shaw outside the historic City and County Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Hill was tried and convicted in the murder of John G. Morrison.

You will eat, bye and bye, In that glorious land above the sky
Work and Pray, live on hay, You'll get pie in the sky when you die
↕ Lyrics

The Preacher and the Slave

Long-haired preachers come out every night
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet

You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and Pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

And the starvation army they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray
Till they get all your coin on the drum
Then they tell you when you are on the bum

You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and Pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

If you fight hard for children and wife
Try to get something good in this life
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell
When you die you will sure go to hell

You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and Pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

Workingmen of all countries unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain

You will eat, bye and bye
When you've learned how to cook and to fry
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye




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