Tune: In the Sweet By-and-By; lyrics by S. Fillmore Bennett and music by Joseph P. Webster, 1868; new union lyrics by Joel Emmanuel Hägglund (Joe Hill), 1911
Version 1:
Performed by Utah Phillips - From the album, We Have Fed You All a Thousand Years, 1983
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Version 2:
Performed by Jeff Cahill, Mark Ross, and Robin Oye - From the album, IWW Rebel Voices: Songs Of The Industrial Workers Of The World, 1987
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Lyrics:
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
And try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right.
But when asked, “How ‘bout something to eat?”
They will answer in voices so sweet:
“You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky.
Work and pray. Live on hay,
And you’ll get pie in the sky when you die.”
And the Starvation Army, they pray,
And they clap, and they sing, and they play.
When they’ve got all your coin on the drum,
They will tell you when you’re on the bum:
“You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky.
Work and pray. Live on hay,
And you’ll get pie in the sky when you die.” (That’s a lie!)
Holy rollers and jumpers come out.
And they holler, they jump, and they shout.
“Give your money to Jesus,” they say.
“He will cure all diseases today.”
“You will eat (You will eat!), bye and bye (Bye and bye!),
In that glorious land above the sky (Way up high!).
Work and pray (Work and pray!). Live on hay (Live on hay!).
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.” (That’s a lie!)
If you want three square meals and a house
Or if you fight hard for children and spouse,
“You’re a ‘sinner’ and a ‘bad’ one,” they say.
“To ‘escape’ hell, you must change your way.”
“So you can eat (You can eat!), bye and bye (Bye and bye!),
In that glorious land above the sky (Way up high!).
Work and pray (Work and pray!). Live on hay (Live on hay!).
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.” (That’s a lie!)
Working folk of all countries, unite.
Side by side, we for freedom will fight.
When the world and its wealth we have gained,
To the grafters we’ll sing this refrain:
“You will eat (You will eat!), bye and bye (Bye and bye!),
When you’ve learned how to cook and how to fry (How to fry!).
Chop some wood (Chop some wood!). ’Twill do you good (Do you good!).
And you’ll eat in the sweet bye and bye.” (And that’s no lie!)