Joe Hill come over from shores Looking for some to do And the Statue of Liberty him by As Joe come a sailing through, Joe As Joe a sailing through
Oh his clothes were coarse and his hopes high As he headed for the land And it took a few weeks on the out-of-work he began to understand Before he began to
And Joe got hired by a bar Sweeping up the As his rag would over the barroom rail like he whistled on a tune You could almost hear him on a tune
And Joe rolled on job to job From the docks to the railroad And no how hungry the hand that wrote In his letters he was always fine In his he was always doing fine
Oh, the years went by the sun goin' down Slowly the page and when Joe back at the sweat upon his tracks He had nothing to but his age He had to show but his age
So he headed out for the California There things just as bad So he joined the industrial of the world 'Cause the was the only friend he had 'Cause the union was the only he had
Now, the strikes bloody and the strikes Were black as hard as were long In the of night Joe would stay awake and write In the morning he would raise with a song In the morning he would raise them a song
And he wrote his to the tunes of the day To be passed along the union And the strikes led and the songs were spread And Joe Hill was always on the Yes, Joe Hill was on the line
Now, in Salt Lake City a was made There was hardly a clue to Oh, the proof was but the sheriff was sure Joe was the killer of the Joe was the killer of the crime
Joe raised his but they shot him down He had nothing but guilt to a doctor I need and they left him to bleed He made it he had the will to live Yes, he made it 'cause he had the will to
Then the trial was held in a building of And there the would be named And the weighed more than the cold copper ore he feared that he was being framed 'Cause he found out that he was being
Oh, strange are the of western law are the ways of fate For the government crawled to the owner's call the judge was appointed by the state Yes, the was appointed by the state
Oh, Utah can be had but not for a union man And Joe was by summer early morn That there'd be one less singer in the There'd be one less in the land
Now, William Spry was Governor And a was his to hold On the last appeal, fell a tear "May the Lord have on your soul May the have mercy on your soul"
Even President Wilson up the day But he would fail For nobody heard the soul words Of the in the Salt Lake City jail Of the soul in the Salt Lake jail
For 36 years he out his days And he more than his part For his that he made, he was carefully paid With a rifle bullet in his heart With a rifle bullet buried in his
Yes, they Joe Hill up against the wall over his eyes It's the life of a rebel he chose to live It's the of a rebel that he died It's the death of a rebel he died
Now, some say Joe was as charged And say he wasn't even there And I guess nobody ever know the court records all disappeared 'Cause the records all disappeared
Say wherever you go in this fair land in union hall In the dusty dark these words are In all the cracks upon the wall In all the cracks upon the wall
It's the very last line that Joe Hill When he that his days were through "Boys, this is my last and final Good luck to all of you, good to all of you"