Which Side Are You On?

Which Side Are You On?

Come all of = you good work - es, «= good

Emi Fi Bmi Fini

a SSS SF

Un - jou baa come in here to dwell.

Bmi A Bmi fr Bmi

Which side me you on? Which side we you on?

A Bmi Gt BmI

Come all of you good workers, good news to you I'll tell,

Of how the good old Union has come in here to dwell.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

My daddy was a miner, and I'm a miner's son.

I'll stick with my fellow workers till every battle’s won.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

They say in Harlan county, there are no neutrals there:

You're either with the union, or a thug for J.H. Blair.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

O workers can you stand it? O tell me how you can?

Will you be a crummy scab or lend us all a hand?

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

Don't scab for the bosses, don't listen to their lies.

Us working folk don't have a chance, unless we organize.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

My mother was a miner, and I'm a miner's daughter.

F'll stand with this old union, come hell or come high water.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

So shoulder to shoulder, in union we shall stand.

We'll beat the bosses and the scabs, so come and lend a hand.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat)

Come all of you good people, you women and you men.

Once more our backs are to the wall, under attack again.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat) *

We've fought a million battles, to defend our hard won rights.

We're goin to have to fight again, and I ask you here tonight:

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat) *

It's time for a decision and you really have to choose —

Support the One Big Union or the next in line is you.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on? (repeat) *

Reese wrote the first five verses of this song in 1931 about the struggles of

United Mine Workers to organize coal miners in Harlan County, Kennicky.

Then in Salt Lake City, a murder was made,

There was hardly a clue to find.

Yes, the proof was poor but the sheriff was sure

That Joe was the killer of the crime, (repeat)

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.

But he made it because he had the will to live, (repeat)

The trial held in a building of wood,

There the killer would be named.

And the days weighed down more than the cold copper ore,

‘Cause he feared that he was being framed, (repeat)

Strange are the ways of the western law;

Strange are the ways of fate,

For the government crawled to the mine owners’ call,

And the judge was appointed by the State, (repeat)

Now Utah justice can be had,

But not for a Union Man;

And Joe was wamed by some early mom,

There'd be one less singer in the land, (repeat)

Oh, William Spry was Governor Spry,

And a life was his to hold.

May the Lord have mercy on your soul, (repeat)

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, (repeat)

For thirty-six years he lived out his days,

And he more than played his part.

For the songs that he made, he was carefully paid

By a rifle bullet in his heart, (repeat)

Yes, they lined Joe Hill up against the wall,

Blindfold over his eyes.

It's the life of the rebel that he chose to live;

It's the death of the rebel that he died, (repeat)

In his time in the cell he wrote to his friends

My body can't be found on this Utah ground, —

So they laid him on a fast departing train, (repeat)

The rebel rode to Chicago Town

There were 30,000 people to mourn.

And just about the time that Joe lay dying

A legend was just a-being bom, (repeat)

Now some say Joe was guilty as charged;

Some say he wasn't even there.

And I guess nobody will ever know.

‘Cause the court records have all disappeared, (repeat)

Now wherever you go in this fair land,

In every union hall,

In the dusty dark these words are marked

In between all cracks upon the wall, (repeat)

It's the very last lines that Joe Hill wrote

When he knew that his days were through:

“Friends, this is my last and final wish,

Good luck to all of you, good luck to all of you."