Rebel Songwriters

Hellraisers Journal: Ralph Chaplin on Joe Hill's Funeral from the International Socialist Review

Submitted by JayRaye on Sun, 01/03/2016 - 12:56pm
The murdering of martyrs has never yet made
a tyrant's place secure.
-Ralph Chaplin

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Monday January 3, 1916
From the International Socialist Review: Ralph Chaplin on Joe Hill's Funeral

In the latest edition of the Review, Fellow Worker Ralph Chaplin offers this account of the funeral of our martyred rebel songwriter which was held in Chicago this past Thanksgiving Day, November 25th:

Joe Hill Funeral, West Side Auditorium, ISR Jan 1916.png

JOE HILLS FUNERAL

By RALPH CHAPLIN

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones-"Among the comrades we extol, Thy name shall blazon on the scroll."

Submitted by JayRaye on Wed, 12/23/2015 - 12:30pm
She was fearless of every danger,
She hated that which was wrong;
She never gave up fighting
Until her breath was gone.

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Saturday December 23, 1905
From the Appeal to Reason: A Poem for Mother Jones by Ellis B. Harris

Mother Jones, Miners Angel .jpg

From the Appeal of December 16, 1905:

MOTHER JONES
-----

Here's to you, Mother, Mother Jones.
Foe of the sabre,
When Justice, reigning, Wrong dethrones,
Helped by Love's labor,
Among the comrades we extol
Thy name shall blazon on the scroll,
In memory of one great soul,
Dear, kindly neighbor.

WE NEVER FORGET: Fellow Worker & Rebel Songwriter Joe Hill, 100 Years Later

Submitted by JayRaye on Tue, 12/08/2015 - 12:59pm

Goodbye, Joe: You will live long in the hearts of the working class.
Your songs will be sung wherever the workers toil,
urging them to organize.
-W. D. HAYWOOD

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Joe Hill, Self-Portrait at San Pedreo Sailors Mission.png
Joe Hill, Self-Portrait at Sailors' Rest Mission in San Pedro, April 1911

Joe Hill on the Writing of Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent:

A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over; I maintain that if a person can put a few cold, common sense facts into a song, and dress them up in a cloak of humor to take the dryness off of them, he will succeed in reaching a great number of workers who are too unintelligent or too indifferent to read a pamphlet or an editorial on economic science.

This is the last of the WE NEVER FORGET series honoring the memory of our Fellow Worker and Rebel Songwriter, Joe Hill. Celebrations of the life and songs of Joe Hill have been going on across the nation. Joe Hill's songs are still being sung one hundred years after the State of Utah attempted to silence him forever. New recordings have been made by many talented singers, so that now, even most of FW Joe Hill's lesser known songs are featured in one or more youtube videos.

Joe Hill Centennial Celebration: Joe Hill's Great-Great Niece, Lovisa Samuelsson
She is playing on the guitar of Utah Phillips which contains some of Joe Hill's ashes.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFrZvjkh2pY width:560 height:315]

More from Centennial Celebration:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joe+hill+centenial+celebration