JESUS WAS A WORKINGMAN
(written by Joe Hill)
Jesus was a workingman, hero as you shall hear
Born in the slums of Galilee, at the turning of the year,
At the turning of the year.
When Jesus was a little lad, the streets rang with his name,
He argued with the older man, and put them all to shame...
His father he apprenticed him, a carpenter to be,
To plane and drill and work with skill in the hills of Galilee...
He became a roving journeyman, he travelled far and wide,
He saw how wealth and poverty grew always side by side...
So he said to all the fishermen, the weavers and the farmers too,
Form yourselves a union here, and the world belongs to you...
When the fishermen heard what the carpenter had said, the weavers and the farmer
They formed themselves a committee of twelve to see the struggle through...
When the rich men heard what the carpenter had done, to the Roman troops they ra
Put that rebel Jesus down, he's a menace to God and man...
And the leader of the occupying troops laughed and then he said,
There's an empty cross on Calvary, 'bout a week and he'll be dead...
But Jesus walked among the poor, for the poor were his own kind,
They never let the cops get close enough to grab him from behind...
So they hired them a man of the traitor's trade, a stool-pigeon was he,
He sold his leader to the soldiers there for a bag of silver money...
The sweat stood out upon his brow, the blood was in his eye,
They nailed him to the Roman cross, and they laughed as they watched him die...
Now two thousand years have passed and gone, and many a hero too,
But the dream of that poor carpenter at last is coming true...
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)