{"id":12899,"date":"2018-05-01T00:11:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T07:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/?p=12899"},"modified":"2018-04-27T12:56:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T19:56:05","slug":"youll-get-pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/youll-get-pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019ll Get Pie in the Sky When You Die"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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Eugene Victor Debs speaking to a crowd in Canton, Ohio, 1914.<\/p><\/div>
\n\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s hard to think about the history of labor unions in this country without thinking of the music that gave it its soundtrack. The American labor movement of the 20th century used powerful lyrics and catchy melodies to champion the causes of workers who voiced grievances for just wages and dignity. In 1791, the first factory, a textile mill, opened in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The Industrial Revolution had arrived and, with it, all the miseries of capitalism, wage-slavery exploitation, and greedy owners. Many of the first labor songs were about the textile mills, like \u201cThe Factory Girl,\u201d which was written in 1830. Some folks might think that the artists who wrote and sang these songs were obscure, little known singers hoping to one day make it to the \u201cbig time.\u201d Well, this could not be further from the truth. Merle Travis penned the wonderful song \u201cSixteen Tons,\u201d the story of a Kentucky coal miner that became one of the signature songs of Tennessee Ernie Ford (also song by Johnny Cash). Then there is Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, who helped to make famous the African-American folk song \u201cJohn Henry\u201d about a steel-driving man. Then there are tunes like Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cMaggie\u2019s Farm,\u201d Gil Scott-Heron\u2019s \u201cThree Miles Down,\u201d and Hazel Dickens\u2019 \u201cFire in the Hole,\u201d among many others. Songs about the laborers\u2019 working conditions, hopes, and aspirations have been sung in America since slaves were brought to these shores in chains in 1619. Doing back breaking work, they sang field hollers based upon lyrics from the Old Testament. Labor songs in the early part of the twentieth century helped to pass the often monotonous hours for thousands of workers who were tenant farmers and mill workers.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Detroit and San Diego, I cut my teeth on labor and protest music from listening to my parents\u2019 records. One that stands out for me was the album Talking Union by the Almanac Singers, a supergroup based in New York City and founded in 1940 by Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie. They chose the name because Lee Hays had said: \u201cBack home in Arkansas farmers had only two books in their houses: the Bible, to guide and prepare them for life in the next world and the Almanac, to tell them about conditions in this one.\u201d The Almanac Singers specialized in songs that attacked fascism and racism and that were pro-union. In fact, one of the most famous photos of Woody Guthrie is where he is strumming his guitar and on the guitar was taped the words \u201cThis machine kills fascists.\u201d The Almanacs all agreed that their purpose was to use music to aid the fight for social, political, and economic change.<\/p>\n

I thought seriously about this when it came time to create my soundtrack for my new documentary film American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs (screening at Grassroots Oasis May 19th). I decided to incorporate some appropriate labor songs I grew up singing, as well as compose tunes in the genre of old-timey fiddle music. The soundtrack was recorded here in San Diego and features Fred Benedetti, Jeff Pekarek, Walt Richards, Elizabeth Schwartz, the Hausmann quartet, myself, and special guest, fiddler Jeremy Kittel.<\/p>\n

Eugene Victor Debs (1855-1926) was one of America\u2019s greatest labor and union organizers at the turn of the twentieth century, who also ran for president five times for the Socialist Party, which he cofounded with Victor Berger in 1901. In the film, we hear Debs reciting a letter he wrote to Gov. William Spry who upheld the murder conviction of Joe Hill (who was executed despite only circumstantial evidence) of a grocer and his son. Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hillstrom in 1879, was a Swedish-American labor activist who moved to the United States in 1902. He became an itinerant laborer, joining the I.W.W.\u2013Industrial Workers of the World (co-founded by Debs)\u2013rising through its ranks, traveling, and making speeches. Joe Hill is most famous for the many wonderful poignant labor songs that are still sung around the world today. I include in my film Hill\u2019s song \u201cThe Preacher and the Slave\u201d (1913). Like many of his fellow I.W.W. members (Wobblies) Hill was more interested in filling an empty belly than in saving his soul. Hill wrote a parody that ridiculed the Salvation Army who preached \u201cpie in the sky,\u201d the reward awaiting you if you would only meekly take what an unjust situation might mete out.<\/p>\n

Long-haired preachers come out every night,<\/em>
\nTry to tell you what\u2019s wrong and what\u2019s right;<\/em>
\nBut when asked how \u2019bout something to eat<\/em>
\nThey will answer with voices so sweet:<\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS
\nYou will eat, bye and bye,<\/em>
\nIn that glorious land above the sky;<\/em>
\nWork and pray, live on hay,<\/em>
\nYou’ll get pie in the sky when you die.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the film, I describe the Lawrence Textile strike of 1912 where Polish weavers\u2013mostly women\u2013opened their pay envelopes to find their wages had been reduced by the owners. Immediately they shouted \u201cnot enough pay\u201d and walked off the job. Soon Italian workers (again mostly women) also found out they had been shorted their salary and they too walked off the job. By the next day, 22,000 women, men, and children had left their jobs. The walk-out became known as the \u201cBread and Roses\u201d strike, based upon labor organizer\/activist Rose Schneiderman\u2019s line in a speech she gave where she said, \u201cThe worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.\u201d This inspired the title of the poem written by James Oppenheim, which was then put to music by Caroline Kohslat . Since there was no common language among the workers (most spoke little to no English), singing songs became a unifying factor. \u201cBread and Roses\u201d became the anthem of the Lawrence Textile strike and is sung throughout the world today.<\/p>\n

As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,<\/em>
\nFor they are women\u2019s children and we mother them again. <\/em>
\nOur lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;<\/em>
\nHearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread but give us roses!<\/em><\/p>\n

Labor songs, protest songs, songs of activism and agitation have played a vital role in the history of the American worker and will continue to as long as there is disparity of any kind in our society today.<\/p>\n

American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs screens at the Digital Gym on May 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16 at 6pm except for 1pm for the Sunday matinee. The venue is located at 2921 El Cajon Blvd. For further information, go to: digitalgym.org\/american-socialist\/<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to think about the history of labor unions in this country without thinking of the music that gave it its soundtrack. The American labor movement of the 20th century used powerful lyrics and catchy melodies to champion the causes of workers who voiced grievances for just wages and dignity. In 1791, the first factory, a textile mill, opened in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The Industrial Revolution had arrived and, with it, all the miseries of capitalism, wage-slavery exploitation, and greedy owners. Many of the first labor songs were about the textile mills, like \u201cThe Factory Girl,\u201d which was written in 1830. Some folks might think that the artists who wrote and sang these songs were obscure, little known singers hoping to one day make it to the \u201cbig time.\u201d Well, this could not be further from the truth. Merle Travis penned the wonderful song \u201cSixteen Tons,\u201d the story of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-expressions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12899"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12979,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899\/revisions\/12979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}