Joe Hill's Dream

You steamed in from Sweden, looking for freedom Looking for work and for dignified pay What lay beyond Lady Liberty shocked you A land of corruption and greed and decay You worked on the docks and you worked on the railroads From Portland to Pedro to the Park City Mine You sang songs for workers on strike, so they framed you Giving hope to the hungry is a capital crime You said not to mourn when they shot you, Joe Hill But what bullets can't kill, fear and hopelessness will You put the voice of the people in, the point of your pen Can a dream that has died be revived once again? They heard you in union halls through the Depression They heard you in Selma through the walls of the jail You fought Vietnam through the radio airwaves You were In Chile, in Jara's sweet wails Poor Woody went crazy, the Boomers got lazy Punk rock's a fashion you buy at the mall Hip-hoppers trip off the power they were fighting Al these phony folk singers say nothing at all You said not to mourn when they shot you, Joe Hill But what bullets can't kill, fear and hopelessness will You put the voice of the people in, the point of your pen Can a dream that has died be revived once again? Say a prayer for us, for the soldiers of lust Make the dealers in dreams and disguises a toast That we'll keep our eyes clear, face down our fears And preserve what the power despises the most You said not to mourn when they shot you, Joe Hill But what bullets can't kill, fear and hopelessness will You put the voice of the people in, the point of your pen Can a dream that has died be revived once again?