"The Tramp" is – together with "The Preacher and the Slave

The Preacher and the Slave

"The Preacher and the Slave" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911. It was written as a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye". The Industrial Workers of the World concentrated much of its labor trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps...

" – one of labor organizer Joe Hill

Joe Hill

Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle , and also known as Joseph Hillström was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World...

's most well-known songs. The lyrics tell about an able-bodied but unemployed man who wanders around looking for work, but is not welcome anywhere – even in church, Heaven

Heaven

Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

, and Hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

 – and thus must "keep on a-tramping".

The tune is borrowed from the song "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching", a Civil War song written in the 1860's by military songwriter George F. Root. Root wrote it for Union soldiers, but the song was so popular that Confederate soldiers wrote their own words, and both sides sang it while marching. That song has appeared in several movies, including Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind (film)

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...

, and the tune is well-known today as the melody of the Sunday School standard "Jesus Loves the Little Children".

"The Tramp" was first published in the Mar 6, 1913 edition (fifth edition) of the Little Red Songbook

Little Red Songbook

thumb|180px|right|The Little Red SongbookSince the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the IWW, songs have played a big part in spreading the message of the One Big Union...

 of the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

(also known as the Wobblies). The Wobblies used songs – parodies set to traditional melodies – to help unionize workers. Hill wrote more than 25 such songs and was considered one of the Wobblies' best lyricists.

Lyrics

If you all will shut your trap,

I will tell you 'bout a chap,

That was broke and up against it, too, for fair;

He was not the kind to shirk,

He was looking hard for work,

But he heard the same old story everywhere.

(Chorus)

Tramp, tramp, tramp, keep on a-tramping,

Nothing doing here for you;

If I catch you 'round again,

You will wear the ball and chain,

Keep on tramping, that's the best thing you can do.

He walked up and down the street,

'Til the shoes fell off his feet.

In a house he spied a lady cooking stew,

And he said, "How do you do,

May I chop some wood for you?"

What the lady told him made him feel so blue.

(Repeat chorus)

'Cross the street a sign he read,

"Work for Jesus" so it said,

And he said, "Here is my chance, I'll surely try,"

And he kneeled upon the floor,

Till his knees got rather sore,

But at eating-time he heard the preacher cry–

(Repeat chorus)

Down the street he met a cop,

And the copper made him stop,

And he asked him, "When did you blow into town?

Come with me up to the judge,"

But the judge he said, "Oh fudge,

Bums that have no money needn't come around."

(Repeat chorus)

Finally came that happy day

When his life did pass away,

He was sure he'd go to heaven when he died,

When he reached the pearly gate,

Santa Peter, mean old skate,

Slammed the gate right in his face and loudly cried:

(Repeat chorus)

In despair he went to Hell,

With the Devil for to dwell,

For the reason he'd no other place to go.

And he said, "I'm full of sin,

So for Christ's sake, let me in!"

But the Devil said, "Oh, beat it! You're a 'bo!

(Repeat chorus)

External links

• The lyrics to The Tramp