Joe Hill was a folk singer, on par with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and an IWW organizer. He was framed for murder, a murder proven to be committed by another man. And executed by Judicial Lynching firing squad in Salt Lake City in 1915. Many Right Wingers say we shouldn’t focus on such things, if somebody is convicted, so they say, there’s no longer any chance of his innocence. (m)Ann Coulter and local Wicked Bitch of the West Michelle Malkintent object to people bringing up all the times Justice was thwarted by a hangmans rope, an electric chair, firing squad, gas chamber or needle.
They say they’re tired of hearing about Joe Hill and about Saccho and Vanzetti. Therefore everybody else is tired of hearing about it.
Screw them. Not literally of course. They want people to forget so they’ll have an easier time in the next round of Court Sanctioned Murders. I think they just like the thought of other people dying.
There’s a song that goes with it, Pete and Woody and Joan Baez and just every folk singer in existence has recorded it, lyrics are:
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
Joe says, “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 workers strike and organize,”
Says he, “You’ll find Joe Hill,”
Says he, “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