Re: OT: Joe Hill

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Hill
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "The Gray Wizard" <dbell@...>
> To: <CONLANG@...>
> Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 12:20 PM
> Subject: OT: Joe Hill
>
>
> > Old fogies reference and apropos of nothing -
> >
> > I find myself totally unable to read a post from Joe without
> singing in my
> > head:
> >
> > I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
> > Alive as you and me.
> > Said I, but Joe, you're ten years dead.
> > I never died said he
> > I never died said he
> >
> > Sorry!
> >
>
>
> Never heard that, what is it, and who's it by?
No, you wouldn't have heard of him unless you were at least as old as I am
(58) and grew up in a radical tradition.  Joe Hill, also known as Joseph
Hilstrom, but whose real name was Joel Emmanuel Haggland, was executed for
murder in 1915.  He was an organizer for a radical labor organization called
the IWW (International Workers of the World) better known as the "Wobblies".
He became something of a legend, either labor hero or criminal, depending on
whether you read the labor press or police reports.  In a message from his
death row cell, Joe Hill sent a telegram to fellow Wobbly "Big Bill"
Haywood. The message would become a rallying cry for protestors for
generations to come: "Don't waste time mourning. Organize!"

The song was written by Alfred Hayes sometime in the late '30s and sung by a
number of people thereafter including Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joan
Baez.  Such were the legends of my youth.

Stay curious,
David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
dbell@graywizard.net
www.graywizard.net
AIM: GraWzrd

Wisdom begins in wonder.

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