Joe Hill, born
Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle (Sweden), and also known as
Joseph Hillström (October 7, 1879 – November 19, 1915) was a
Swedish-AmericanSwedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent, especially the descendants of about 1.2 million immigrants from Sweden during 1885-1915. Most were Lutherans who affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ; some were Methodists...
labor activist, songwriter, and member of the
Industrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW, also known as the "Wobblies"). A native
Swedish speakerSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, he learned English during the early 1900s, while working various jobs from
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to San Francisco. Hill, as an immigrant worker frequently facing unemployment and underemployment, became a popular song writer and cartoonist for the radical union. His most famous songs include "
The Preacher and the Slave"The Preacher and the Slave" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911. It was written as a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye". The Industrial Workers of the World concentrated much of its labor trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps...
", "
The Tramp"The Tramp" is – together with "The Preacher and the Slave" – one of labor organizer Joe Hill's most well-known songs. The lyrics tell about an able-bodied but unemployed man who wanders around looking for work, but is not welcome anywhere – even in church, Heaven, and Hell...
", "
There is Power in a Union"There Is Power In A Union" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1913. The Industrial Workers of the World concentrated much of its labor trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps. They sometimes had competition for the attention of the workers from religious organizations...
", "
The Rebel Girl"The Rebel Girl" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911. The song was published in the Little Red Songbook, and as sheet music in 1915.-Lyrics and style:...
", and "
Casey Jones—the Union Scab"Casey Jones—the Union Scab" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911 in San Pedro, shortly after the first day of a nationwide walkout of 40,000 railway employees. It was written as a parody of the song "Casey Jones"....
", which generally express the harsh but combative life of itinerant workers, and the perceived necessity of organizing to improve conditions for working people.
In 1914, John G. Morrison, a Salt Lake City area grocer and former policeman, and his son were shot and killed by two men. The same evening, Hill arrived at a doctor's office with a gunshot wound, and briefly mentioned a fight over a woman. Yet Hill was reluctant to explain further, and he was later accused of the grocery store murders on the basis of his injury. Hill was convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. Following an unsuccessful appeal, political debates, and international calls for clemency from high profile people and workers' organizations, Hill was executed in November, 1915. After his death, he was memorialized by several folk songs. His life and death have inspired books and poetry.
Joe Hill's frequently speculated upon love relationship remained mostly conjecture for nearly a century. A biography published in 2011, said to expand our knowledge of the Joe Hill case "in really dramatic ways," reveals new information about Hill's ostensible alibi, which was never introduced at his trial. According to the biography, Joe Hill and his friend and fellow countryman, Otto Appelquist, were rivals for the attention of twenty year old Hilda Erickson, a member of the family with whom the two men were lodging. In a recently discovered letter, Erickson confirmed her relationship with the two men, and the rivalry between them. The letter indicates that when she first discovered Hill was injured, he explained to her that Appelquist had shot him, apparently due to jealousy.
Early life
Hill was born 1879 in
GävleGävle is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 71,033 inhabitants in 12/31 2010. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland , having received its charter in 1446 from Christopher of Bavaria.-History:It is believed that the name Gävle...
, a city in the province of
Gästrikland' is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost of the Norrland provinces....
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. He was the third child in a family of nine, where three children died young. His father, Olof, worked as a conductor at Gefle Dala Järnväg, a railroad company. Olof died at the age of 41, and his death meant economic disaster for the family. His mother Margareta Catharina did however succeed in keeping the family together until she died in 1902.
Joe Hill's house still stands in
GävleGävle is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 71,033 inhabitants in 12/31 2010. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland , having received its charter in 1446 from Christopher of Bavaria.-History:It is believed that the name Gävle...
at the address Nedre Bergsgatan 28, in Gamla Stan, the Old City. it houses a museum called Joe Hill-gården.
In 1902, when about 23, Joe Hill and his brother Paul emigrated to the United States. Hill became a migrant laborer, moving from
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, and eventually to the west coast. He was in
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, at the time of the
1906 earthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
.
IWW
Hill joined the
Industrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW) or Wobblies around 1910, when working on the docks in San Pedro, California. In late 1910 he wrote a letter to the IWW newspaper
Industrial WorkerThe Industrial Worker, "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism," is the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World . It is currently released ten times a year, printed and edited by union labor, and is frequently distributed at radical bookstores, demonstrations, strikes and labor...
, identifying himself as a member of the IWW local chapter in
Portland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.
Hill rose in the IWW organization and traveled widely, organizing workers under the IWW banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches. His songs frequently appropriated familiar melodies from songs of his time. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky", which appeared in his song "
The Preacher and the Slave"The Preacher and the Slave" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911. It was written as a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye". The Industrial Workers of the World concentrated much of its labor trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps...
" (a
parodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the
hymnA hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
"In the Sweet By-and-By"). Other notable songs written by Hill include "
The Tramp"The Tramp" is – together with "The Preacher and the Slave" – one of labor organizer Joe Hill's most well-known songs. The lyrics tell about an able-bodied but unemployed man who wanders around looking for work, but is not welcome anywhere – even in church, Heaven, and Hell...
", "
There is Power in a Union"There Is Power In A Union" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1913. The Industrial Workers of the World concentrated much of its labor trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps. They sometimes had competition for the attention of the workers from religious organizations...
", "
The Rebel Girl"The Rebel Girl" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911. The song was published in the Little Red Songbook, and as sheet music in 1915.-Lyrics and style:...
", and "
Casey Jones—the Union Scab"Casey Jones—the Union Scab" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911 in San Pedro, shortly after the first day of a nationwide walkout of 40,000 railway employees. It was written as a parody of the song "Casey Jones"....
".
Trial
As an
itinerant workerA hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
, Hill moved around the west, hopping freight trains, going from job to job. Early 1914 found him working as a laborer at the Silver King Mine in
Park City, UtahPark City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
, not far from
Salt Lake CitySalt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
.
On January 10, 1914, John G. Morrison and his son Arling were killed in their Salt Lake City butcher store by two armed intruders masked in red bandannas. The police first thought it was a crime of revenge, for nothing had been stolen and the elder Morrison had been a police officer, possibly creating many enemies. On the same evening, Joe Hill appeared on the doorstep of a local doctor, bearing a bullet wound. Hill said that he had been shot in an argument over a woman, whom he refused to name. The doctor reported that Hill was armed with a
pistolWhen distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
. Considering Morrison's past as a police officer, several men he had arrested were at first considered suspects; 12 people were arrested in the case before Hill was arrested and charged with the murder. A red bandanna was found in Hill's room. The pistol purported to be in Hill's possession at the doctor's office was not found. Hill resolutely denied that he was involved in the robbery and killing of Morrison. He said that when he was shot, his hands were over his head, and the bullet hole in his coat — four inches below the bullet wound in his back — seemed to support this claim. Hill did not testify at his trial, but his lawyers pointed out that four other people were treated for bullet wounds in Salt Lake City that same night, and that the lack of robbery and Hill's unfamiliarity with Morrison left him with no motive.
The prosecution, for its part, produced a dozen eyewitnesses who said that the killer resembled Hill, including 13-year-old Merlin Morrison, the victims' son and brother, who said "That's not him at all" upon first seeing Hill, but later identified him as the murderer. The jury took just a few hours to find him guilty of murder.
An appeal to the
Utah Supreme CourtThe Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...
was unsuccessful.
Orrin N. HiltonOrrin N. Hilton was a Denver judge and attorney who participated for the defense in several famous court cases. Judge Hilton successfully defended George Pettibone of the Western Federation of Miners when Pinkerton detective James McParland accused him of conspiracy to murder former Idaho governor...
, the lawyer representing Hill during the appeal, declared: "The main thing the state had on Hill was that he was an IWW and therefore sure to be guilty. Hill tried to keep the IWW out of [the trial]... but the press fastened it upon him."
In a letter to the court, Hill continued to deny that the state had a right to inquire into the origins of his wound, leaving little doubt that the judges would affirm the conviction. Chief Justice Daniel Straup wrote that his unexplained wound was "a distinguishing mark," and that "the defendant may not avoid the natural and reasonable inferences of remaining silent."
In an article for the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, Hill wrote: "Owing to the prominence of Mr Morrison, there had to be a 'goat' [scapegoat] and the undersigned being, as they thought, a friendless tramp, a Swede, and worst of all, an IWW, had no right to live anyway, and was therefore duly selected to be 'the goat'."
The case turned into a major media event. President
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, the blind and deaf author
Helen KellerHelen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
, and people in Sweden all became involved in a bid for clemency. It generated international union attention, and critics charged that the trial and conviction were unfair.
In a new biography published in 2011, William M. Adler concludes that Hill was probably innocent of murder (he advances another candidate as the perpetrator), but also suggests that Hill came to see himself as worth more to the labor movement as a dead martyr than he was alive, and that this understanding may have influenced his decisions not to testify at the trial and subsequently to spurn all chances of a pardon. He reports that evidence pointed to early police suspect
Frank Z. WilsonMagnus Olson , best known by the pseudonym Frank Z. Wilson, was a career criminal who was born in Tromsø, Norway, the youngest of five children. Olson was arrested for the murder of John G. Morrison, a Salt Lake City area grocer and former policeman, and his son in 1914...
and also discovered a letter from the woman Hill was involved with, Hilda Erickson, who wrote that Hill had told her he had been shot by her former fiance.
Execution
Hill was executed by firing squad on November 19, 1915, and his last word was "Fire!"
That same day, a dynamite bomb was discovered at the Tarrytown estate of John D. Archbold, President of the Standard Oil Company. Police theorized the bomb was planted by anarchists and I.W.W. radicals as a protest against Hill's execution. The bomb was discovered by a gardener, who found four sticks of dynamite, weighing a pound each, half hidden in a rut in a driveway fifty feet from the front entrance of the residence. The dynamite sticks were bound together by a length of wire, fitted with percussion caps, and wrapped with a piece of paper matching the color of the driveway, a path used by Archbold in going to or from his home by automobile. The bomb was later defused by police.
Just prior to his execution, Hill had written to
Bill HaywoodWilliam Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
, an IWW leader, saying, "Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize... Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."
His last will, which was eventually set to music by Ethel Raim, founder of the group
The PennywhistlersThe Pennywhistlers were an American singing group founded by folklorist and singer Ethel Raim and popular during the 1960s folk music revival. They specialized in Eastern European choral music, sung primarily A cappella...
, reads:
My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."
My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you,
Joe Hill
Aftermath
Hill's body was sent to
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where it was cremated. His ashes were placed into 600 small envelopes and according to Wobbly folklore, sent around the world and released to the winds on May Day 1916. However it was not until the first anniversary of his death (November 19, 1916) that delegates attending the Tenth Convention of the IWW in Chicago received envelopes. The rest of the 600 envelopes were sent to IWW Locals, Wobblies and sympathizers around the world on January 3, 1917.
In 1988 it was discovered that an envelope had been seized by the
United States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
in 1917 because of its "subversive potential". The envelope, with a photo affixed, captioned, "Joe Hill murdered by the capitalist class, Nov. 19, 1915," as well as its contents, was deposited at the
National ArchivesThe National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
. A story appeared in the
United Auto WorkersThe International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
' magazine Solidarity and a small item followed it in
The New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
Magazine. Members of the IWW in Chicago quickly laid claim to the contents of the envelope.
After some negotiations, the last of Hill's ashes (but not the envelope that contained them) was turned over to the IWW in 1988. The weekly
In These TimesIn These Times is a politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published by the Institute for Public Affairs in Chicago...
ran notice of the ashes and invited readers to suggest what should be done with them. Suggestions varied from enshrining them at the
AFL-CIOThe American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
headquarters in Washington, DC to
Abbie HoffmanAbbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
's suggestion that they be eaten by today's "Joe Hills" like
Billy BraggStephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
and
Michelle ShockedMichelle Shocked is the stage name of Michelle Karen Johnston, an American singer-songwriter.-History:Shocked received her first international exposure in Europe, particularly Britain, with her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes .Her first U.S...
. Bragg did indeed swallow a small bit of the ashes and still carries Shocked's share for the eventual completion of Hoffman's last prank. The majority of the ashes were cast to the wind in the US,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and
NicaraguaNicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. The ashes sent to Sweden were only partly cast to the wind. The main part was interred in the wall of a union office in
LandskronaLandskrona is a locality and the seat of Landskrona Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 28,670 inhabitants in 2005.-History:The city of Landskrona was founded at the location of Scania's best natural harbour, as a means of King Eric of Pomerania's anti-Hanseatic policy, intended to compete...
, a minor city in the south of the country, with a plaque commemorating Hill. That room is now the reading room of the local city library.
One small packet of ashes was scattered at a 1989 ceremony which unveiled a monument to IWW coal miners buried in
LafayetteThe City of Lafayette is a Home Rule Municipality located in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 23,884 on 2005-07-01.- Geography :Lafayette is located at ....
,
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. Six unarmed strikers were machine-gunned by
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
state policeState police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...
in 1927 in the
Columbine Mine MassacreThe first Columbine Massacre, sometimes called the Columbine Mine massacre to distinguish it from the Columbine High School massacre, occurred in 1927, in the town of Serene, Colorado. A fight broke out between Colorado state police and a group of striking coal miners, during which the unarmed...
. Until 1989 the graves of five of these men were unmarked. Another famous Wobbly,
Carlos CortezCarlos Cortez was a poet, graphic artist, photographer, muralist and political activist, active for six decades in the Industrial Workers of the World....
, scattered Joe Hill's ashes on the graves at the commemoration.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill, Philip S. Foner published a book, The Case of Joe Hill, about the trial and subsequent events, which concludes that the case was a
miscarriage of justiceA miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
.
Influence and tributes
- Hill was memorialized in a tribute poem
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
written about him c. 1930 by Alfred HayesAlfred Hayes was a British screenwriter, television writer, novelist, and poet, who worked in Italy and the United States...
titled "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", sometimes referred to simply as "Joe Hill". Hayes's lyrics were turned into a song in 1936 by Earl RobinsonEarl Hawley Robinson was a singer-songwriter and composer from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is probably as well remembered for his left-leaning political views as he is for his music, including the songs "Joe Hill", "Black and White", and the cantata "Ballad for Americans"...
.
- Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
and Pete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
often performed this song and are associated with it, along with IrishIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
folk group The DublinersThe Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
. Joan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
's WoodstockWoodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
performance of "Joe Hill" in 1969 is one of the best known recordings. She also recorded the song numerous times, including a live version on her 2005 album Bowery Songs. Scott WalkerScott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
recorded a version for his album The Moviegoer- Personnel :* Scott Walker - Vocals* Johnny Franz - Producer* Peter J. Olliff - Engineering* Robert Cornford - Orchestra director...
.
- The Swedish
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
socialist leader Ture NermanTure Nerman was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs.Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotaler...
(1886–1969) wrote a biography of Joe Hill. For the project, Nerman did the first serious research about Hill's life story, including finding and interviewing Hill's family members in Sweden. Nerman, who was a poet himself, also translated most of Hill's songs into Swedish.
- Ralph Chaplin
Ralph Hosea Chaplin was an American writer, artist and labor activist. At the age of seven, he saw a worker shot dead during the Pullman strike in Chicago, Illinois. He had moved with his family from Ames, Kansas to Chicago in 1893...
wrote a tribute poem/song called "Joe Hill" and referred to him in his song "Red November, Black November."
- Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
wrote and recorded a different, original song called "Joe Hill", using a traditional melody found in the song "John Hardy"John Hardy" is a traditional American folk song based on the life of a railroad worker in West Virginia. The historical John Hardy killed a man during a craps game, was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was hanged on January 19, 1894....
", which tells a much more detailed story of Joe Hill's life and death, and includes the lines that have since been associated with Ochs' own life and death, "It's the life of a rebel that he chose to live; It's the death of a rebel that he died". Ochs' song concludes with Hill's words, "This is my last and final will; Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill, Good luck to all of you."
- Singer/songwriter Josh Joplin
-Biography:Joplin was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Conestoga Valley, in the heart of Lancaster, Pa., until at the age of 12, when his family relocated to Columbia, Md....
wrote and recorded a song entitled Joseph Hillstrom 1879-1915 as a tribute to Joe Hill for the self-titled debut album of his band, Among The Oak & AshAmong The Oak & Ash is an ever-changing collection of musicians led by American songwriter Josh Joplin. The songs are born out of the musical tradition of the Appalachian Mountains and are either adapted from their folk conventions or are entirely original and are written to sound like old time...
.
- Frank Tovey sings about Joe Hill in his song 'Joe Hill' from the 1989 album Tyranny and the Hired Hand. In this song he uses some of the words from the Alfred Hayes poem.
- Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
claims that Hill's story was one of his inspirations to begin writing his own songs. His song "I dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" is loosely based around the story and Robinson's version.
- Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
's song about Joe Hill, "By and By", appears on the 2005 album A Singsong and a ScrapA Singsong and a Scrap is a Chumbawamba album released in 2005. It shows more folk influence than their previous album Un and features guest appearances from folk musicians such as Coope Boyes and Simpson, Andy Cutting and John Jones and Ian Telfer of Oysterband...
. It incorporates the first stanza of Alfred Hayes' poem.
- In 1990, Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
released Don't Mourn — Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill. This compilation featured the likes of "Haywire Mac" McClintock and Cisco Houston performing his songs as well as narrative interludes from Utah PhillipsBruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist...
, Elizabeth Gurley FlynnElizabeth Gurley Flynn was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World . Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a visible proponent of women's rights, birth control, and women's suffrage...
, and others.
- Wallace Stegner
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
published a fictional biography called Joe Hill in 1950.
- Authors Stephen
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
and Tabitha KingTabitha King is an American author and activist. She is married to writer Stephen King.-Family:King met her husband, author Stephen King, in college through her work-study job in the Fogler Library. Their daughter Naomi Rachel was born in 1970. They married on January 2, 1971...
named their second child, Joseph Hillstrom KingJoseph Hillstrom King , better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. He has published two novels—Heart Shaped Box and Horns—and a collection of short stories entitled 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the author of the graphic novel series Locke & Key...
, after Joe Hill.
- Gibbs M. Smith wrote a biography "Joe Hill", which was later turned into the 1971 movie Joe Hill
Joe Hill is a 1971 biopic about Swedish-American labor activist Joe Hill, born Joel Emanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden. It was directed by Bo Widerberg and depicts Hill's involvement with the Industrial Workers of the World union, and his trial for murder during which he defends himself...
also known as The Ballad of Joe Hill directed by Bo Widerberg.
- A chapter of John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
's novel 1919The U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel ; 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen ; and The Big Money . The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938...
is a stylized biography of Joe Hill.
- Robert Hunter wrote the opening verse about Joe Hill for the song "Down the Road" which he wrote for Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
's Mystery Box.
- The Nightwatchman
The Nightwatchman is the alter-ego and solo act of Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club and former Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello...
(a.k.a. Tom MorelloThomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
, guitarist of Rage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
and AudioslaveAudioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
) refers to Joe Hill in his song "The Union Song".
- For Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
's second Album, Evil Empire, a suggested reading list was included. Included is the biography Joe Hill written by Gibbs M. Smith.
- Joe Hill's name is invoked in Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
's song, "Christmas in Washington."
- Joe Hill is referred to in Justin Townes Earle
Justin Townes Earle , son of Steve Earle, stepson of Allison Moorer, and named for songwriter Townes Van Zandt is an AMA winning, Americana musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Earle is signed to Bloodshot Records and has four released albums from 2007–2010...
's song, "They killed John Henry." (Justin Townes EarleJustin Townes Earle , son of Steve Earle, stepson of Allison Moorer, and named for songwriter Townes Van Zandt is an AMA winning, Americana musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Earle is signed to Bloodshot Records and has four released albums from 2007–2010...
is the son of Steve EarleStephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
.) Townes Earle sings "Joe Hill he worked any job he could find, he'd rake your leaves or pick your vines. They killed Joe Hill, put a bullet to his name, but that bullet made a martyr of the slain".
- The Swedish punk rock band Randy
Randy is a punk rock band from Hortlax, Sweden, formed in 1992. They were first inspired by skate punk bands like NOFX and Propagandhi but after the release of The Rest Is Silence and the depart of their bass player Patrik Trydvall, they radically changed their musical style and adopted an older...
refers to Joe Hill and the organization Industrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
in a song called "If We Unite" on their album The Human Atom Bombs-Track listing:#"Chicken Shack"#"Addicts of Communication"#"Punk Rock City"#"Keep Us Out of Money"#"Karl Marx and History"#"Summer of Bros"#"I Don't Need Love-Jonny Svenson"#"If We Unite"#"Proletarian Hop"#"Shape Up"...
from 2001.
- Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
's piece "Comrade Jesus Christ", includes the line "he'd fight with Joe Hill". Hill is also referred to in his song "Cannot Buy My Soul".
- In his book An Undividable Glow , Robert Brady speaks about an area of Manchester, England as Cheetham "Joe" Hill.
- Seattle composer and bandleader Wayne Horvitz
Wayne Horvitz is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer.-Biography:Horvitz, a "defiant cross-breeder of genres", has led the groups The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, and the Four Plus One Ensemble...
created a musical tribute for Joe Hill in 2008. Joe Hill: 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voice and Soloist, which premiered at Meany Hall in Seattle, features the Northwest Sinfonia and guest soloists Bill FrisellWilliam Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
, Robin Holcomb, Danny BarnesDanny Barnes is a banjo and guitar player whose music is influenced by country, jazz and punk. Born in Temple, Texas and raised in Belton, Barnes was exposed to music at a young age: he recalls picking up a love of country and bluegrass from his father and grandmother, Delta blues from one brother...
, and Rinde Eckert.
- "Calling Joe Hill" by Ray Hearne is frequently performed by Roy Bailey
Roy Bailey MBE , is a British socialist folk singer. Roy began his singing career in a skiffle group in 1958.Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represents "the very soul of folk's working class ideals.....
, a British socialist folk singer.
- In 1995 the first "Raise Your Banners" festival of political song was held in Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, inspired by the 80th anniversary of the death of Joe Hill. Sheffield Socialist choir which was formed in 1988 organised the event and performed an arrangement by Nigel Wright of the Earl Robinson song about Joe Hill. Since then the festival has been held roughly every two years, being held in Bradford in November 2007 and 2009.
- Pennsylvania based hardcore band Wisdom In Chains
Wisdom In Chains is an American hardcore punk band, which was formed in 2002 with members of American and Dutch hardcore scenes.Maarten, guitarist of Daredevil made a call to Mad Joe Black and Richie Krutch about making some hardcore band with heavy punk and oi! influences...
ended their album Everything You Know with a young voice reading "Joe Hill's Last Will".
- Otis Gibbs
Otis Gibbs is an American singer-songwriter. His songs feature themes about political and social issues, and he has been compared to Woody Guthrie, Steve Earle, and Bruce Springsteen. Billy Bragg included Gibbs' song "The Peoples Day" in a list of "Top Five Songs with Something to Say", published...
made the Joe Hill's Ashes album in 2010
- Hill's last will is the lyrics to a song entitled Good Evening Mr. Q, appearing in the 2002 album Memoirs by the Norwegian group The 3rd and the Mortal
The 3rd and the Mortal were a Norwegian experimental metal-band, founded in the city of Trondheim, Norway, in 1992 by Rune Hoemsnes, Finn Olav Holthe, Geir Nilssen, Trond Engum and singer Kari Rueslåtten...
.
- "Joe Hill's Last Will" is the concluding track on the CD Bittersweet Sixteen by the Irish-American rock band Black 47
Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...
. In the song, lead singer Larry KirwanLarry Kirwan is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the New York based Irish rock band, Black 47....
sings the will a cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
.
- In 1980 Posten AB, the Swedish postal service, issued a Joe Hill postage stamp. Red on a white background with the lyrics in English "We'll have freedom, love and health/When the grand red flag is flying, In the Workers' Commonwealth." The stamp cost SKr
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
1,70 which was the amount for airmail to the United States.
Recording of songs
Cover album of his songs:
- Joe Glazer
Joe Glazer , closely associated with labor unions and often referred to as the "labor's troubadour," was a US-American folk musician who recorded more than thirty albums over the course of his career....
, Songs of Joe Hill, Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
, 1954
Additional reading
- "The Man Who Never Died," A Play about Joe Hill, with Notes on Joe Hill and His Times, by Barrie Stavis
Barrie Stavis was a distinguished American playwright. He has authored several powerful plays about men struggling in the vortex of history. They advocate ideas, suffer, often are executed, but eventually their ideas win. The heresy of one age becomes the established truth of the next...
, New York: Haven Press, 1954. The "notes" are actually a carefully researched, 116 page history of the period, with detailed analysis of the trial of Joe Hill; the notes include photographs of people, events, and documents. The play was produced in New York City off-broadway at the Jan Hus Play House in 1958. The revised play and compressed notes were published in a second version of this book under the same title, published at Cranbury NJ: A.S. Barnes, 1972.
- Davidson, Jared (2011). Remains to be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill's ashes in New Zealand. Wellington: Rebel Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-473-18927-3
- Fellow Workers. Philips, Utah and Difranco, Ani. Righteous Babe Records, NY, 1999.
- Joe Hill: IWW Songwriter. Nolan, Dead & Thompson, Fred. Kersplebedeb. Montreal.
- Joe Hill—The Man and the Myth. Gibbs Smith.
- We Shall Be All: A History of the IWW. Melvyn Dubrosky.
- Where the Fraser River Flows: the IWW in BC. Mark Leier.
- Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World. Buhle, Paul and Schulman, Nicole, eds. Verso, NY, 2005.
- Union Song by The Nightwatchman
The Nightwatchman is the alter-ego and solo act of Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club and former Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello...
External links