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88. I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill

88. I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill

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AAAAA

Play softly if people sing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2UF8yw8...

by Seattle's own Earl Robinson, written 10 years after Joe Hill was executed in Utah in 1915 for a crime he did not commit. His first mistake was he believed the authorities would not kill an innocent man. His second mistake was that he had pissed off the publisher of the LA Times by helping Mexican revolutionaries expropriate his latifundia on the Colorado River delta. Earl's so, jazz clarinetist Perry R, played with the AFMB briefly

Eb

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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
Says Joe, "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 working men defend their rights
It's there you'll find Joe Hill.
It's there 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.

Joan Baez may have the best-known version. Springsteen used horns but they don't last long.
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