In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff, and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band released a series of singles, which did not receive wide exposure. He also worked in Guy Norris Records in Barking. Bragg became disillusioned with his music career, and in May 1981 joined the British Army as a recruit destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After three months, he bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having attended basic training but having never served in a regiment as a soldier.
Bragg began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar. His roadie at the time was Andy Kershaw, who became a BBC DJ (Bragg and Kershaw later, in 1989, appeared in an episode of the BBC TV programme, Great Journeys, in which they travelled the Silver Road from Potosí, Bolivia, to the Pacific coast at Arica, Chile). Bragg performing at South by Southwest in 2008.
Bragg's demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg got an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to release them as a record. Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy was released in July 1983 by Charisma's new imprint, Utility. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, so Peel played a song from Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy although at the wrong speed (since the 12" LP was, unconventionally, cut to play at 45rpm). Peel insisted he would have played the song even without the biryani and later played it at the correct speed.
Within months, Charisma had been taken over by Virgin Records and Jenner, who had been laid off, became Bragg's manager. Stiff Records' press officer Andy Macdonald – who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs – received a copy of Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy. He made Virgin an offer and the album was re-released on Go! Discs in November 1983.[citation needed] In 1984, he released Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, a mixture of political songs (e.g., "It Says Here") and songs of unrequited love (e.g., "The Saturday Boy"). The following year he released Between the Wars, an EP of political songs that included a cover version of Leon Rosselson's "The World Turned Upside Down" – the EP made the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and earned Bragg an appearance on Top of the Pops. Bragg later collaborated with Rosselson on the song, "Ballad of the Spycatcher". In 1985, his song "A New England", with an additional verse, became a Top 10 hit in the UK for Kirsty MacColl. After MacColl's early death, Bragg always sang the extra verse in her honour. In 1984–1985 he toured North America.
In 1986, Bragg released Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, which became his first Top 10 album. Its title is taken from a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky and a translated version of the poem was printed on the record's inner sleeve. Back to Basics is a 1987 collection of his first three releases: Life's A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg, and the Between The Wars EP. Bragg released his fourth album, Workers Playtime, in September 1988. With this album, Bragg added a backing band and accompaniment.
In May 1990, Bragg released the political mini-LP, The Internationale. The songs were, in part, a return to his solo guitar style, but some songs featured more complicated arrangements and included a brass band. The album paid tribute to one of Bragg's influences with the song, "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", which is an adapted version of Earl Robinson's song, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", itself an adaptation of a poem by Alfred Hayes.
The album Don't Try This at Home was released in September 1991, and included the song, "Sexuality", which reached the UK Singles Chart. Bragg had been persuaded by Go! Discs' Andy and Juliet Macdonald to sign a four-album deal with a million pound advance, and a promise to promote the album with singles and videos.[citation needed] This gamble was not rewarded with extra sales, and the situation put the company in financial difficulty. In exchange for ending the contract early and repaying a large amount of the advance, Bragg regained all rights to his back catalogue.[citation needed] Bragg continued to promote the album with his backing band, The Red Stars, which included his Riff Raff colleague and long-time roadie, Wiggy.
Bragg released the album William Bloke in 1996 after taking time off to help raise his son. Around that time, Nora Guthrie (daughter of American folk artist Woody Guthrie) asked Bragg to set some of her father's unrecorded lyrics to music. The result was a collaboration with the band Wilco and Natalie Merchant (with whom Bragg had worked previously). They released the album Mermaid Avenue in 1998, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II in 2000. A rift with Wilco over mixing and sequencing the album led to Bragg recruiting his own band, The Blokes, to promote the album. The Blokes included keyboardist Ian McLagan, who had been a member of Bragg's boyhood heroes The Faces. The documentary film Man in the Sand depicts the roles of Nora Guthrie, Bragg, and Wilco in the creation of the Mermaid Avenue albums.
In 2004, Bragg joined Florida ska-punk band Less Than Jake to perform a version of 'The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out' for the Rock Against Bush compilation.
At the 2005 Beautiful Days Festival in Devon, Bragg teamed up with the Levellers to perform a short set of songs by or associated with The Clash in celebration of Joe Strummer's birthday. Bragg performed guitar and lead vocals on "Police and Thieves", and performed guitar and backing vocals on "English Civil War", and "Police on my Back".
In 2007, Bragg moved closer to his English folk music roots by joining the WOMAD-inspired collective The Imagined Village, who recorded an album of updated versions of traditional English songs and dances and toured through that autumn. Bragg released his album Mr. Love & Justice in March 2008. This was the second Bragg album to be named after a book by Colin MacInnes. In 2008, during the NME Awards ceremony, Bragg sang a duet with British solo act Kate Nash. They mixed up their two greatest hits, Nash playing "Foundations", and Bragg redoing his "A New England". Bragg also collaborated with the poet and playwright, Patrick Jones, who supported Bragg's Tour.
In 2008, Bragg played a small role in Stuart Bamforth's film "A13: Road Movie". Bragg is featured alongside union reps, vicars, burger van chefs and Members of Parliament in a film that explored "the overlooked, the hidden and the disregarded."
He was involved in the play Pressure Drop at the Wellcome Collection in London in April and May 2010. The production, written by Mick Gorden, and billed as "part play, part gig, part installation", featured new songs by Bragg. He performed during the play with his band, and acted as compere.
Bragg curated the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury Festival 2010.
He took part in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible.
Bragg performed a set of the Guthrie songs that he had set to music for Mermaid Avenue during the Hay Literary Festival in June 2012. Mermaid Avenue Vol. III and Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions were also released in early 2012.
On 18 March 2013, Bragg released his latest studio album, five years since Mr. Love & Justice, titled Tooth And Nail. It featured 11 original songs, including one written for the Bush Theatre, and a Woody Guthrie cover. Stylistically, it continues to explore genres of Americana (music) and Alternative country, both of which he has said he has been playing and writing regularly since Mermaid Avenue (1998).
In November 2017, he released all six tracks from the mini-album Bridges Not Walls as downloads and CD through the Billy Bragg website and other sellers, followed by the single Full English Brexit through Cooking Vinyl.
Joe Hill
Billy Bragg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Looking for some work to do
And the Statue of Liberty waved him by
As Joe come a sailing through, Joe Hill
As Joe come a sailing through.
Oh his clothes were coarse and his hopes were high
As he headed for the promised land
Before he began to understand
Before he began to understand
And Joe got hired by a bowery bar
sweeping up the saloon
As his rag would sail over the bar room rail
Sounded like he whistled on a tune
You could almost hear him whistling on a tune
And Joe rolled on from job to job
From the docks to the railroad line
And no matter how hungry the hand that wrote
In his letters he was always doing fine
In his letters he was always doing fine
Oh, the years went by like the sun goin' down
slowly turn the page
And when Joe looked back at the sweat upon his tracks
He had nothing to show but his age
He had nothing to show but his age
So he headed out for the California shore
There things were just as bad
So he joined the industrial workers of the world
'Cause, The union was the only friend he had
'Cause, The union was the only friend he had
Now the strikes were bloody and the strikes were black
as hard as they were long
In the dark of night Joe would stay awake and write
In the morning he would raise them with a song
In the morning he would raise them with a song
And he wrote his words to the tunes of the day
To be passed along the union vine
And the strikes were led and the songs were spread
And Joe Hill was always on the line
Yes Joe Hill was always on the line
Now in Salt Lake City a murder was made
There was hardly a clue to find
Oh, the proof was poor, but the sheriff was sure
Joe was the killer of the crime
That Joe was the killer of the crime
Joe raised his hands but they shot him down
he had nothing but guilt to give
It's a doctor I need and they left him to bleed
He made it 'cause he had the will to live
Yes, He made it 'cause he had the will to live
Then the trial was held in a building of wood
And there the killer would be named
And the days weighed more than the cold copper ore
Cause he feared that he was being framed
Cause he found out that he was being framed
Oh, strange are the ways of western law
Strange are the ways of fate
For the government crawled to the mine owner's call
That the judge was appointed by the state
Yes, The judge was appointed by the state
Oh, Utah justice can be had
But not for a union man
And Joe was warned by summer early morn
That there'd be one less singer in the land
There'd be one less singer in the land
Now William Spry was Governor Spry
And a life was his to hold
On the last appeal, fell a governor's tear
May the lord have mercy on your soul
May the lord have mercy on your soul
Even President Wilson held up the day
But even he would fail
For nobody heard the soul searching words
Of the soul in the Salt Lake City jail
Of the soul in the Salt Lake City jail
For 36 years he lived out his days
And he more than played his part
For his songs that he made, he was carefully paid
With a rifle bullet buried in his heart
With a rifle bullet buried in his heart
Yes, they lined Joe Hill up against the wall
Blindfold over his eyes
It's the life of a rebel that he chose to live
It's the death of a rebel that he died
It's the death of a rebel that he died
Now some say Joe was guilty as charged
And some say he wasn't even there
And I guess nobody will ever know
'Cause the court records all disappeared
'Cause the court records all disappeared
Say wherever you go in this fair land
In every union hall
In the dusty dark these words are marked
In between all the cracks upon the wall
In between all the cracks upon the wall
It's the very last line that Joe Will wrote
When he knew that his days were through
Boys, this is my last and final will
Good luck to all of you
Good luck to all of you
Billy Bragg's song Joe Hill is a tribute to the life and death of controversial labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill. The song tells the story of Hill's journey from Sweden to the United States in search of work and his eventual involvement in labor strikes and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), commonly known as the "Wobblies." Hill's songs and poems were used as rallying cries for striking workers, and this earned him the attention of authorities who accused him of murder. Despite a lack of evidence, Hill was found guilty and executed by firing squad.
The lyrics of the song describe Hill's early life in America, his work as a laborer, and his involvement with the IWW. They highlight the injustice Hill faced at the hands of the authorities and the lack of support he received from the legal system. The final verse of the song makes reference to the enduring legacy of Joe Hill's words and music, which continue to inspire and motivate those fighting for workers' rights today.
Line by Line Meaning
Joe Hill come over from Sweden shores
Joe Hill arrived in America from Sweden
Looking for some work to do
Joe Hill was in search of a job
And the Statue of Liberty waved him by
Joe Hill was welcomed to America by the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of freedom to the immigrants
As Joe come a sailing through, Joe Hill
Joe Hill arrived in America on a boat
Oh his clothes were coarse and his hopes were high
Joe Hill was dressed poorly but had high expectations
As he headed for the promised land
Joe Hill was looking for a better life in America, a land of opportunities
And it took a few weeks on the out-of-work streets
Joe Hill took some time looking for work in America
Before he began to understand
Joe Hill realized that life in America was not as easy as he anticipated
And Joe got hired by a bowery bar
Joe Hill got a job as a bartender
Sweeping up the saloon
Joe Hill's job was to clean the bar
As his rag would sail over the bar room rail
Joe Hill used to hum while he cleaned the bar, tossing his rag over the rail
Sounded like he whistled on a tune
Joe Hill used to whistle his tune while he worked
You could almost hear him whistling on a tune
Joe Hill's tune was catchy and memorable
And Joe rolled on from job to job
Joe Hill had a series of jobs
From the docks to the railroad line
Joe Hill worked in different industries
And no matter how hungry the hand that wrote
Joe Hill would always send letters to his family in Sweden regardless of his financial situation
In his letters he was always doing fine
Joe Hill was optimistic in his letters and never revealed his difficulties
Oh, the years went by like the sun goin' down
Time passed quickly for Joe Hill
slowly turn the page
Life moved on, despite the challenges
And when Joe looked back at the sweat upon his tracks
Joe Hill realized he had nothing to show for the effort he put in
He had nothing to show but his age
Joe Hill had grown old, but he was still struggling
So he headed out for the California shore
Joe Hill moved to California in search of a better life
There things were just as bad
Joe Hill did not find the prosperity he was hoping for in California
So he joined the industrial workers of the world
Joe Hill joined the IWW, a union that aimed to improve working conditions for all laborers
'Cause The union was the only friend he had
Joe Hill found support and solidarity in the union
Now the strikes were bloody and the strikes were black
The strikes led by the union were violent and long
As hard as they were long
The strikes were challenging and took a toll on the workers
In the dark of night Joe would stay awake and write
Joe Hill would write songs in the night when he couldn't sleep
In the morning he would raise them with a song
Joe Hill would sing his songs during the strikes
And he wrote his words to the tunes of the day
Joe Hill wrote lyrics for his songs inspired by popular songs of the era
To be passed along the union vine
Joe Hill's songs were shared among the union members
And the strikes were led and the songs were spread
Joe Hill's songs were popular and contributed to the success of the strikes
And Joe Hill was always on the line
Joe Hill always showed up to support the union, even at great personal risk
Yes, Joe Hill was always on the line
Joe Hill was dedicated to the union cause
Now in Salt Lake City a murder was made
A murder took place in Salt Lake City
There was hardly a clue to find
There were no clear indications as to who committed the murder
Oh, the proof was poor, but the sheriff was sure
The evidence against Joe Hill was weak, but the sheriff was convinced he was guilty
Joe was the killer of the crime
Joe Hill was accused of committing the murder
Joe raised his hands but they shot him down
Joe Hill was killed by the authorities, despite his surrender
He had nothing but guilt to give
Joe Hill was innocent, but he had to take the blame for something he didn't do
It's a doctor I need and they left him to bleed
Joe Hill needed medical attention, but the authorities did not provide any
He made it 'cause he had the will to live
Joe Hill survived the shooting because of his strong will to live
Then the trial was held in a building of wood
The trial's venue was a shoddy wooden building
And there the killer would be named
The trial was to determine Joe Hill's guilt or innocence
And the days weighed more than the cold copper ore
The trial days were long and unbearable, worse than working in copper mines
Cause he feared that he was being framed
Joe Hill was worried that he was being falsely accused
Cause he found out that he was being framed
Joe Hill discovered that he was a victim of an unfair trial
Oh, strange are the ways of western law
The legal system in the West can be unpredictable and unfair
Strange are the ways of fate
The concept of fate is mysterious and uncertain
For the government crawled to the mine owner's call
The government was influenced by the mine owners and their interests
That the judge was appointed by the state
The judge was handpicked by the state authorities
Yes, the judge was appointed by the state
The judge was not an impartial authority but rather a part of the state machinery
Oh, Utah justice can be had
The legal system in Utah can be bought and sold
But not for a union man
The authorities were biased against union workers
And Joe was warned by summer early morn
Joe Hill was warned of a potential attack
That there'd be one less singer in the land
Joe Hill was threatened with death
There'd be one less singer in the land
Joe Hill was known for his music and songs
Now William Spry was Governor Spry
William Spry was the Governor of Utah
And a life was his to hold
William Spry had the power to spare or take a life
On the last appeal, fell a governor's tear
Even the Governor was moved to tears during the appeal process
May the lord have mercy on your soul
The Governor wished God's mercy for Joe Hill
Even President Wilson held up the day
Even President Wilson of the United States intervened in Joe Hill's case
But even he would fail
The President was unable to help Joe Hill avoid his fate
For nobody heard the soul searching words
Joe Hill's final words went unheard
Of the soul in the Salt Lake City jail
Joe Hill died in a jail cell in Salt Lake City
For 36 years he lived out his days
Joe Hill spent 36 years in prison
And he more than played his part
Joe Hill had made significant contributions to the labor movement
For his songs that he made, he was carefully paid
Joe Hill's songs were popular and appreciated among the union workers
With a rifle bullet buried in his heart
Joe Hill was executed by a firing squad
Yes, they lined Joe Hill up against the wall
Joe Hill was executed by standing against a wall
Blindfold over his eyes
Joe Hill was not given the opportunity to see his executioners
It's the life of a rebel that he chose to live
Joe Hill lived a life of rebellion against an unfair system
It's the death of a rebel that he died
Joe Hill was killed for standing up against the injustices of the system
Now some say Joe was guilty as charged
Some people still accuse Joe Hill of committing the murder he was accused of
And some say he wasn't even there
Others claim that Joe Hill was wrongfully accused and he did not commit the crime
And I guess nobody will ever know
The truth about Joe Hill's trial will always remain a mystery
'Cause the court records all disappeared
The records of Joe Hill's trial were lost or destroyed
Say wherever you go in this fair land
Joe Hill's legacy lives on
In every union hall
Joe Hill's memory is kept alive in every union gathering
In the dusty dark these words are marked
Joe Hill's songs are still remembered and sung in the union meetings
In between all the cracks upon the wall
Joe Hill's words have become a part of the union culture
It's the very last line that Joe Will wrote
Joe Hill's last wishes
When he knew that his days were through
Joe Hill knew he was going to die
Boys, this is my last and final will
Joe Hill's final words
Good luck to all of you
Joe Hill wished the union workers success in their efforts
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PHIL OCHS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
DocRich99
I just heard this on the radio for the first time yesterday (WFMU), and they never even said who the singer was! I took a guess it was Billy Bragg - and sure enough . . . . . this is awesome - thanks so much for posting.
Matt John
It's so inspiring eh! I'm seeking subscribers for my new channel. Folk songs etc ☮💪https://youtu.be/TiKzfa-1Kfc
Carl Elias
covered by Billy Bragg Joan Baez Paul Robeson
Didou
you welcome !
grandslam1998
Joe Hill lives!!!
BroodSleipner
Great song!!
Buck
To the tune of Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad"! I love it!
neonatalpenguin
The tune actually predates Woody. It's from the old folk song John Hardy.
joeyjonesxx
What a song!
Johnie Matthews
Woody borrowed a lot of tunes. Nothing is sacred as tunes go. It is all folk music.