The Preacher and the Slave

The Ballad of Joe Hill

This clip is taken from the film  Joe Hill, a 1971 biopic about the famous Swedish-American labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill, born Joel Emanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden. It was directed by renowned Swedish director Bo Widerberg and is a dramatization of Hill's life, depicting Hill's arrival as a poor immigrant in New York in 1902, his involvement with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and his trial for murder, during which he defended himself. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence (which has often been questioned, as shown in the film) and, despite many pleas for mercy, including two from President Woodrow Wilson, he was executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 15 November 1915.

The film won the Jury Prize at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival but was mostly unavailable commercially for nearly four decades until a restored and digitally remastered version was produced in 2015 by the National Library of Sweden.

Joe Hill (October 7, 1879 – November 19, 1915), born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund and also known as Joseph Hillström, was a Swedish-American labour activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, the IWW, familiarly known as the "Wobblies". A native Swedish speaker, he learned English during the early 1900s, while working various jobs from New York to San Francisco. Hill, an immigrant worker frequently facing unemployment and underemployment, became a popular songwriter and cartoonist for the union. 

One of his most famous songs is "The Preacher and the Slave", in which he coined the phrase "pie in the sky".

"The Preacher and the Slave" was written as a parody of the hymn:

"In the Sweet By-and-By"

In the sweet by and by
   We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by
   We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

The Wobblies concentrated much of their work trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps. When the workers returned to the cities, the Wobblies faced the Salvation Army, or, as they satirized it, the "Starvation Army". Hill had first encountered the Salvation Army in Sweden when he was a child.

Several songs were written parodying the Salvation Army's hymns, "The Preacher and the Slave" being the most successful. The song is often referred to as "Pie in the Sky", or as "Long Haired Preachers", its original title. It was first published in the 4th edition of the Little Red Songbook in 1911. 

Long-haired preachers come out every night
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:

You will eat, bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

And the starvation army they play
And they sing and they clap and they pray
Till they get all your coin on the drum
Then they tell you when you're on the bum:

You will eat, bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out
And they holler, they jump and they shout
"Give your money to Jesus," they say
"He will cure all diseases today"

You will eat, bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

If you fight hard for children and wife
Try to get something good in this life
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell
When you die you will sure go to hell

You will eat, bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight:
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:

You will eat, bye and bye
When you've learned how to cook and to fry
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye

Songs for freedom and the ballad of "Joe Hill"