Album Notes for "When Hymns Bled Red: Words of Joe Hill in Red"

How many of us found the Wobblies through Joan Baez singing "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night?" I did not delve deeper for many years, but the seed was planted. Pete Seeger watered that seed. Years later I heard U. Utah Phillips. Decades later I finally heard Joe Glazer. I began thinking about recording my favorite IWW songs and  the source songs from which the melodies came for the great Wobbly parodies.
Joe Hill, the great Swedish immigrant was only one of many songwriters who took melodies from popular hymns and other songs of the day and turned them into anthems for worker's rights and economic justice. Joe Hill, the martyr, I read about first, but when I encountered Joe Hill the songwriter he came to life in my mind. 

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a singing union. The story goes that early members of the IWW, the Wobblies, sang their own lyrics when the street Salvation Army bands were playing their hymns. Now both the popular folk songs and the hymns are now fading from our culture, so what will become of the great International Workers of the World (Wobbly) songs? Would they not be better understood if people remembered the source song? As a folksinger, I want the original songs remembered, too.

I believe that knowing the original song helps appreciate the parody. On Top of Old Smoky deserves to live out it’s truth independently of On Top of Spaghetti, not just as “the source melody of …” I believe authorship and copyrights are to be honored but that, in the Public Domain, Mr/Ms Anonymous can tear it up! 

I begin each song with the first verse of the original hymn. If you detect from my singing that I love the old hymns, you are right. I grew up singing them in the Southern Baptist Church. "Power in the Blood" is one old hymn that is, in my mind, a rock song! It is fun to sing. All these songs have gone into the public domain and any changes I have added are not copyrighted. If my performances of these songs ever make money, I'll happily donate it to the still-active IWW. 

I call the EP When Hymns Bled Red: Words of Joe Hill in Red. The title plays upon those New Testament editions that print the words of Jesus in red.  
This is my second album recorded at Elephonic Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Jesse Korman, engineer and Jared Putnam on that fine upright bass. It's my fifth album since turning 60 in 2010.

I have no use for the Southern Baptist Convention and it’s affiliated churches; my last tie to them would be the hymns. But it was through these hymns and my early Christian faith that I connected with the Civil Rights Movement and came to love and honor Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. It was through his speeches that I came to understand what the battle between rich and poor was all about and the relationship between war and capitalism. So, let's keep the hymns and let them live out their own truth, and let's know the sources also to understand all the nuances of the Wobbly songwriters.

I left out some verses and added whole verses or words to these songs. I will not go into the kind of documentation that is readily available in the Little Red Songbook (Check out used book sources for reprints of older editions) and the Big Red Songbook. Most words you hear that vary from the 1923 songbook are changes I made. I wrote two new verses for this first song and took out some of the originals.
Here is the way I sing the most famous of all wobbly Songs:

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

Hallelujah, I’m a Bum

Harry “Haywire Mac” McClintock
from Revive Us Again

(Revive Us Again, William P. Mackay)

We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of thy love         

For Jesus, who died and is now gone above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen!

Hallelujah! Thine the Glory! Revive us again.

Why don’t you work like other men do?

How the hell can I work, ain’t no jobs to do.

Chorus

Hallelujah, I’m a bum, Hallelujah, bum again;

Hallelujah, give us a handout to revive us again!

Oh why don’t you save all the money you earn?

If I didn’t eat I’d have money to burn.

Chorus

Whenever I get all the money I’ve earned,

The boss will be broke and to work he must turn.

Chorus

Oh I like my bosses, tell ‘ya how nice they are,

They drive me to the food bank ‘cause I can’t afford a car.

Chorus

Why don’t you use that degree you earned?

They don’t want to pay - they hired an intern.
Chorus

Wobbly Joe Hill picked some mighty fine melodies for his parodies.  Sweet By and By, melody by Joseph P. Webster, is pure beauty. I made some changes, all intended for the Public Domain.  (see the Little Red Songbook)

Sweet By and By

 G                        C                 G

There’s a land that is fairer than day

                                             D

And by faith we can see it afar

     G                      C            G

For the Father waits over the way

                           C  G/D D      G

To prepare us a dwelling place there

                                D

In the sweet by and by

                D7                                        G

We shall meet on that beautiful shore

                     G7/B   C

In the sweet by and by

                G/D              D7          G

We shall meet on that beautiful shore

The Preacher and the Slave 

By Joe Hill

Long-haired preachers come out every night,

Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right;

What's wrong?  You need is a job and something to eat

They answer with voices so sweet:

Chorus

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.

You can work hard for children and wife –

No guarantee you’ll make it in US life–

You’re a sinner and bad man, they tell,

When you die you will sure go to hell.

Chorus

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:

Last Chorus:

You can eat bye and bye,

When you’ve learned how to cook and to fry;

Chop some wood, ‘twill do you good,

And you can eat in the sweet bye and bye.

I first heard Joe Hill's Last Will sung in a pub in Dublin. That musician (can't remember his name, sorry) sang it to some melody of his own, I think. I put the words to the tune of Sweet Hour of Prayer. Unlike the songs whose words I tinkered with, there is no excuse to tinker with a last will and testament. Ain't it funny how Christian in nature this "dangerous communist's" last will is?

  

If you grew up singing, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow..." like I did, you may enjoy this little nugget from Australia. As in other songs I got from the Little Red Songbook I made my changes according to our beloved folk process, but I sure as hell did not change the emotion!

Dump the Bosses Off Your Back
Dump the One Percent. Let's start there, shall we? Once again, I changed a few words. Changes can be detected by buying and reading a Little Red Songbook. My changes are Public Domain, intended to stay that way. The original song What a Friend We Have in Jesus was adapted by John Brill.

The simple truth is that the poor, forlorn, and hungry did have a great friend in Jesus, but most of today's "Christians" are not followers of Jesus. They are not "a thousand points of light." 

Neither is the United States an anti-Communist country. Why? Because Nixon went to China. 

So don't be afraid to sing the Wobbly songs even if you aren't a "Red." Do you want your children to have healthcare? Do you think if you work hard at the best job you can find that you should be able to support your family in a decent life? Then sing for economic justice my friends. That's not communism and don't let the 1% fool you that it is.

What a friend we have in Jesus                                   

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit

O what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Dump the Bosses Off Your Back

By John Brill 

Are you poor, forlorn, and hungry?

Are there lots of things you lack?

Is your life made up of misery?

Then dump the one percent off your back.

Are your clothes all patched and tattered?

Are you living in a shack?

Would you have your troubles scattered?

Then dump the one percent off your back.

Are you almost split asunder?

Loaded like a long-eared jack?

Mule!  why don’t you buck like thunder?

And dump the one-percent off your back.

All the agonies you suffer,

You can end with one good tax..

Buck up! You orn’ry voters,

And dump the one percent off your back.

If you can, get a copy of the reissue of the 1923 songbook in addition to the latest one.

Joe Hill's Power In a Union
Singing Power in the Blood (at Trinity Baptist Church, Amarillo, Texas) was thrilling. Some hymns soothe, others exalt, this one ROCKS!
Get the latest edition of the Little Red Songbook or the others still out there as reprints and you'll see the changes I chose to make to Joe Hill's words. My changes are in the public domain. The edition I used most was the 1923 version.

A                                            D              A

Would your be free from your burden of sin?

           E                            A

There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood.

                            D         A

Would you o’er evil a victory win?

           E                               A

There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

                            D                      A

There’s pow’r, pow’r wonder working pow’r

           E                 A

In the blood of the Lamb

                             D                         A                 E7                               A

Ther is pow’r, pow’r, wonder working pow’r in the precious blood of the lamb.

 There Is Power In a Union

By Joe Hill     

Would you have freedom from wage slavery,

Then join in the grand industrial band;

Would you from mise’y and hunger be free?

Then come! Do your share, like a man.

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

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 raise your kids in a shack, way in the back?

Would you have wings up in heaven to fly

And starve here with rags on your back?

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of working women,

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 believe corporations and all they’ve said

Then don’t organize, all unions despise,

If you want nothing before you are dead,

Shake hands with the boss and look wise.

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of working humans,

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 human.

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of working humans,

When they stand hand in hand,

That’s a power, that’s a power that must rule in every land –

One Industrial Union Grand.

My Horses Ain't Hungry

I wrote a new verse for this song (public domain). I took a Zen saying, "Eat when hungry, sleep when tired" and wrote it into an American folk song. Fun! Pete Seeger encouraged singing. He said you make a song your own by singing it and he did not frown on lyric or melody changes.
For three years in a row I recorded at the Woodshed Studios of the Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas. This year I couldn't go that far and that meant I wouldn't be working with all those good people: engineer Russell Tanner, bassist Sterling Finlay, and guitar great Big John Mills.
Luckily, I found Elephonics Recording Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jesse Korman is a master engineer with a beautiful and affordable studio. He knew the local go-to upright bassist Jared Putnam and the lowly me-myself-and-I set out to add a touch of guitar solos to the songs I'd most thought of for a Big John solo - songs with a western flair. This is one; Jesse James is another.  I play with no picks, but sort of hold my index finger like a pick for individual strings and continue brushing the rhythm with my other fingers.

About a month ago I started a list of countries wherein at least one person had landed on my blog: US, Germany, Brazil, France, UK, Greece, Peru, Romania, Venezuela, Ukraine, Poland, Hong Kong, China, Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Turkey, Norway, Australia, and Switzerland!
I'd like you to know where my music can be listened to for free or downloaded: Pandora, Jango, and

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Who'll Take the Garbage Away?

Naomi Klein makes the observation that people don't get too worked up over garbage as long as it's "away." Now we have created this continent of garbage out in the Pacific and I imagine air pollution as being akin to pouring sewage into the rivers and the ocean.
"Who'll Take the Garbage Away" is set to the tune of "Rosin the Beau" also known to many as "Acres of Clams." What a great Celtic melody this is and a fine song structure to work in. I hope you'll consider singing it. It's Public Domain.
I used a capo up two frets, so I'm singing in D.

Who’ll Take the Garbage Away?

C                                                     F 

Our house is all filled with garbage

       C                                  Am

We make more trash every day

       C                                     F

But Daddy takes it out to the can

              C             G7        C

And the trash man hauls it away

                                           F

And the trash man hauls it away

              C                            Am

And the trash man hauls it away

C                                     F

Daddy takes it out to the can

              C              G7        C

And the trash man hauls it away

My town is all trashed with litter

With plastic that will not decay

But every spring it gets windy

And the wind blows the litter away

And the wind blows the litter away

And the wind blows the litter away

Every spring it gets windy

And the wind blows the litter away

My grandma loves indoor plumbing

She didn’t have it back in her day

The swill is dumped in the river

And the river floats it away

And the river floats it away

And the river floats it away

The swill is dumped in the river

And the river floats it away

God made the land and the oceans

Seven continents of land so they say

But humans, too, are creators

And we’ve made the eighth in our way

And we’ve made the eighth in our way

And we’ve made the eighth in our way

Humans, too, are creators

And we’ve made the eighth in our way

Our continent is pollution and garbage

Our swill swirls around as it may

The ocean is huge in it’s power

But it can’t go on this a’way

But it can’t go on this a’way

But it can’t go on this a’way

The ocean is huge in it’s power

But it can’t go on this a’way

I heard Pete Seeger tell a story

About people with spoonfuls of sand

They managed to reach the tipping point

With millions of spoonfuls of sand

With millions of spoonfuls of sand

With millions of spoonfuls of sand

They managed to reach the tipping point

With millions of spoonfuls of sand

Corporations act like they’re above it

Like they can live this way

But those super-rich folks have children

And all children will have hell to pay

And all children will have hell to pay

And all children will have hell to pay

Those super-rich folks have children

And all children will have hell to pay

Do you have a child or a grandchild?

Did you have a ma and a pa?

Then you can’t turn your back on this effort

All for one and one for all!

All for one and one for all!

All for one and one for all!

You can’t turn your back on this effort

All for one and one for all!

I’ll clean my room, my house, and my town

And my river in Pete Seeger’s way

But we need a world full of leaders

Who care for more than today

Who care for more than today

Who care for more than today

But we need a world full of leaders

Who care for more than today

Draw a line in the sand ...

I’m Gonna Shine You On

(to the tune of This Little Light of Mine)

 C

Republicans and Democrats

                             C7

Are hard to tell apart

     F

Republicans and Democrats

                             C

Are hard to tell apart

One believes whole-heartedly

                      E7          Am

The other believes in part

                   C                    F

Shine ‘em on, shine ‘em on,

                   C                     F

Shine ‘em on, shine ‘em on

C            G7            C

I gonna shine 'em on.

If you won’t fight global warming

I’m gonna shine you on 

If you won’t fight global warming

I’m gonna shine you on

If you won’t fight global warming

I’m gonna shine you on

Shine you on, shine you on,

Shine you on, shine you on

I’m gonna shine you on.

If you don’t help solar power

I’m gonna shine you on (3x)

Shine you on, shine you on,

Shine you on, shine you on

I’m gonna shine you on.

If you believe in fracking

I’m gonna shine you on…

Shine you on, shine you on,

Shine you on, shine you on

I’m gonna shine you on.

If you support the Keystone Pipeline

I’m gonna shine you on…

Shine you on, shine you on,

Shine you on, shine you on

I’m gonna shine you on.

If you think governments can’t help

I’m gonna shine you on…

Shine you on, shine you on,

Shine you on, shine you on

I’m gonna shine you on.

I used a capo up two frets, so I'm singing in D.

Public Domain, pass it on, pass it on, pass it on, pass it on

You can pass it on.

Old Joe Clark's a fine old man, tell you the reason why

He keeps good liquor 'round his house,
Good old rock and rye.
I'd never sung Old Joe Clark until the week I recorded it and it felt like a revelation. That has been the beauty of my life with Pete Seeger's book American Favorite Ballads. I've lived with it for fifty years. It's taught me chords that go together in a song - chords I hadn't known would work in that key. It's taught me how raucous one can get with only two chords, and much more. And singing this brought out a singing style I didn't know I had. What fun! Thanks, Pete.

More from "Pete Seeger Lives Here"

Clementine, as in 'Oh, my darling,' is the first song from Pete Seeger's book that I changed some. He has it in 3/4 time; I do it as a blues/rockish 2/4 song. I use the same two chords, E and B7 and the same lyrics as Pete in his American Favorite Ballads book.
The last verse reminds me of Barbara Allen and other songs in which two plants/flowers grow up from a gravesite. Except in Clementine there is no 'true lover's knot,' no romantic allusions. No, the singer in Clementine, I think, is not heart-broken to lose his large lover.

Jesse James had a hand and a heart and a brain.

Here's another song from Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads, a wonderful songbook still in print (see my post Pete Seeger Lives Here). I sure had fun with this one. Jesse James is that kind of iconic folk hero who goes down in ballads as a hero regardless of the facts. He robs the rich and gives to the poor, we sing. I changed a line to "He took from the 1 and gave to the 99." We need a lot more of that, only in the form of taxation -) The song portrays Jesse as a Robin Hood character. In reality he was something else - a Confederate sympathizer and a killer, but in the song he lives on as a hero. Damn that Robert Ford! Thank you, Billy Gashade!

er

ps. I have updated the blog a few below this one - The US is heading for it's own Ukraine-like crisis to provide a link to the most stunning essay I have read in recent memory. It's about violence in America; it's by Chris Hedges and it resonates especially in the light of the US state of Geogia and it's apalling gun law and the anti-government actions of Nevada ranchers to which our government caved in.

The top two blogs on my site are being left as the latest blogs because I've linked them to a Pandora submission of "Pete Seeger Lives Here."

Blue-Tail Fly is an American murder ballad (I mean it...give my version a listen)

As I was preparing my album "Pete Seeger Lives Here" I recognized a great many songs from Pete's book American Favorite Ballads as having been sung by Burl Ives. As I sang them I thought of it as 'bringing out my inner Burl.' However, as I reread Pete's wonderful testimony before Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities and then went on to research Burl Ives' testimony, I decided to stick with the example of Pete. Pete Seeger told Congress, politely but firmly, that his politics and religion were private matters and none of their business. He refused to name names, but offered to sing any song he had ever performed. Burl sang - like a canary. For sure, Burl named John Jacob Niles whose career was trashed. Perhaps he named Will Geer (Grandpa Walton on TV) and many others, including Pete and Woody Guthrie. I know of no transcript of Burl Ives' testimony, but you can find Pete's online. Pete was restrained, polite, and adamant - a real example of bravery and true Americanism.
Once when I was in the Folklife Center at the Library of Congress a wonderful librarian said, "We have Burl Ives' guitar, would you like to play it?" What a fine instrument. I suspect the strings were cat gut. They were not steel and they were more resonant and taut than any nylon strings I've played.
In my memory no non-Christmas song is more reminiscent of Burl than Blue-Tail Fly. I never really got it until I was singing it over and over. Here's my interpretation:
In the days of American slavery, house servants were, owners assumed, more trustworthy than field hands. They didn't have overseers watching their every move. They often were expected to exercise some authority over field hands - for sure they kept them out of the house and the master's liquor! So when Jimmy cracked corn - hell, that must have been bourbon! Why didn't the singer care? Because he had murdered the master! He sent him away forever by being a bit negligent in swatting the dreaded Blue-Tail Fly! And the jury did not convict him. Celebration time for sure!

Pete Seeger Lives Here!

Pete Seeger recorded a series of records beginning in, I believe, the 1950s called American Favorite Ballads. Then in 1961 Oak Publications published a songbook by the same name. I recently recorded 18 of the songs at Elephonics Recording Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jesse Korman is the owner and engineer of this fine studio and he found Jared Putnam, a superb upright acoustic bass player to accompany me. I will be sharing some of these songs here and telling stories about them as I go.
American Favorite Ballads now available from Oak Archives, Music Sales America, distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation. I'm quite sure one could easily find a copy. ISBN 978-0-8256-0094-4
This wonderful book has been an instructor to me - some songs have chord structures I would never have guessed at, others are wonderfully simple learning songs with two chords. It has been a reminder of my childhood - I used to sing these songs in school. And it has been a comfort to me, something I've returned to over and over through the years.
We play it uptempo. I added some scat singing and repeats for fun.