JOE HILL – ‘THE MAN WHO NEVER DIED’
featuring
Arthur Johnston, Eileen Penman, George Duff, Forgaitherin’ and Ray Burnett
Thu 5 Nov | 7pm (2hrs)
The Carrying Stream Festival
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Reception: 0131 556 9579
Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR
Tickets from the Storytelling Centre: £10 (£8)
19 November 2015 marks the centenary of the murder of Joe Hill – Swedish-born American labour activist and organiser, songwriter and member of the Wobblies’ (the Industrial Workers of the World). His most famous songs include ‘The Preacher and the Slave’ (containing the new phrase ‘pie in the sky’), ‘The Tramp’, ‘There is Power in the Union’ ‘The Rebel Girl’ and ‘Casey Jones – the Union Scab’.
Hill was convicted of murder in a highly controversial trial. Following an unsuccessful appeal, and despite political debates and international calls for clemency from high-profile figures and workers’ organisations, he was executed in Salt Lake City on 19 November 1915.
After his death, he was memorialised by several folk songs, including ‘I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night’ by Alfred Hayes. His life and death have also inspired a plethora of poems and books.
Joe Hill
(Alfred Hayes, c.1930, musIc by Earl Robinson, 1938)
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, “But Joe, you’re ten years dead,”
“I never died,” says he. ”I never died,” says he.
“In Salt Lake, Joe,” says I to him,
Him standing by my bed,
“They framed you on a murder charge,”
Says Joe, “But I ain’t dead,”
Says Joe, “But I ain’t dead.”
“The copper bosses killed you, Joe,
They shot you, Joe,” says I.
“Takes more than guns to kill a man,” Says Joe,
“I didn’t die,” Says Joe,
“I didn’t die.”
And standing there as big as life
And smiling with his eyes
Says Joe, “What they forgot to kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize.”
“Joe Hill ain’t dead,” he says to me,
“Joe Hill ain’t never died.
Where working men are out on strike
Joe Hill is at their side,
Joe Hill is at their side.”
From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill -
Where working men defend their rights
It’s there you’ll find Joe Hill.
It’s there you’ll find Joe Hill.
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, “But Joe, you’re ten years dead”,
“I never died,” says he.
“I never died,” says he.
___________
For other events in the Carrying Stream Festival see:
http://www.carryingstreamfestival.co.uk/csf15.htm