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Commemorations Joe Hill songs

Joe Hill’s Last Will (1915)

First published in the March 1916 edition (9th edition; “Joe Hill Memorial Edition”) of the IWW Little Red Songbook.

(Written in his cell, November 18, 1915, on the eve of his execution)

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kind don’t need to fuss and moan —
“Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.”

My body? Ah, If I could choose,
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my last and final will.
Good luck to all of you.

— Joe Hill

Introduced and read by Utah PhillipsSteve Earle,  discussed by Tom Paxton; introduced and sung (to new tunes) by Fred Alpi and Chico Schwall.

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