On International Worker’s Day 2014, Bruce opened his show in Tampa on a sober note with a one-time only performance of the Labor Union anthem, “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night.”
Bruce’s performance was a fitting way to honor the occasion. Joe Hill was a leading labor activist and organizer, accused of murder (perhaps falsely, as the song describes) exactly a century before Bruce paid tribute and executed the following year.
The song itself draws its lyrics from the Alfred Hayes poem by the same name; Earl Robinson turned it into a song in 1936.
Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger brought the song to a wider audience through their musical and political activism. The newsreel below captures a remarkably clear and powerful performance by Robeson before a group of Scottish miners, and you can feel how much the song means to its audience.
Generation after generation, socially conscious performers have kept the song alive, first Robeson and Seeger, then (famously) Joan Baez at Woodstock:
…and most recently–but not finally–Bruce’s performance on the High Hopes Tour. The song lives on because the need for it lives on. “Joe Hill” remains a powerful reminder of the importance of collective action and fortitude for workers who fight for fairness.
Joe Hill
First performed: May 1, 2014 (Tampa, FL)
Last performed: May 1, 2014 (Tampa, FL)
